A GHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY 



OF THE 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 



OF 



STEAM NAVIGATION 




BY 



GEO. HENRY PREBLE, 



REAR-ADMIRAL U.S.N. 



^- 4?/ 



SECoisriD EUlTioisr. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

L. E HAMERSLY & CO. 
1895. 



Copyright, 1883, 

BY 

L. K. Hamersly & Co. 

Transter 

Armv War College 

June 20 1933 



Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. 




^ 



w 







k 



PREFACE. 



This volume is the outgrowth of a newspaper article on the origin, 
etc., of steam navigation, published in the Boston Commercial Bulletin 
in 1856 or 1857. My interest having been attracted to the subject, I 
have continued for twenty-five years to collect Notes for a History of 
Steam Navigation, most of which have been printed in the United 
Service during the last eighteen months. 

Those Notes, revised and chronologically arranged, with many 
additions, are the substance of this volume, which is believed to con- 
tain more facts relating to the progress of steam navigation over the 
world than .have ever been gathered together in one book. The large 
share which is shown that Americans have had in the invention of the 
steamboat will be gratifying to my countrymen. 

To record all the improvements' in the marine steam-engine from 
its inception to the present time would require many volumes. The 
abridgments or index of the specifications of patents in the English 
Patent-Office, relating to marine propulsion exclusive of sails, 1618 to 
1866, fill two closely-printed 12mo volumes of 333 and 440 pages. 
The United States Patent-Office has published no such compendium. 

Geo. Henry Preble. 

Brookltne, Massachusetts, February 1, 1883. 



\i 




CONTEN 



CHAPTER I.— 1543-1800. 

A HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Early Experimenters : Blasco de Garray, 1548. — David Ramseye, 1630. — 
Salomon de Carrs, 1641. — Marquis of Worcester, 1663. — Denis Papin, 
1690-95.— Thomas Savary, 1698.— M. Duguet, 1699.— Jonathan Hulls, 
1736.— M. Gautoir, 1752.— David Bournoulli, 1753.— Euler, 1753.— 
Mathonde la Cour, 1753.— M. Gautoir, 1756.— M. Genevois, 1759.— Comte 
de Auxiron, 1774. — Perrier, 1775. — M. Ducrest, 1777. — Guyon de la Plom- 
biere, 1776. — Andrew Ellicott, 1775. — Marquis de Jouffroy, 1778 and 1783. 
— Thomas Paine, 1778. — Matthew Washbrough, 1779. — Abbe Darical, 
1782.— Desblancs, 1782.— James Eumsey, 1784 and 1788.— William Bush- 
nell. Inventor of the Screw, 1784. — Joseph Bramah, 1785. — John Fitch, 
1785-91.— Oliver Evans, 1788.— Nathan Bead, 1788.— Patrick Millar, 
James Taylor, William Symington, 1788. — William Longstreet, 1790. — 
John C. Stevens, 1791.— Baron Seguier, 1792.— Earl Stanhope, 1792-94. 
—Elijah Ormsbee, 1792-94.— William Littleton, 1794.— Samuel Morey, 
1794-97. — Edward Thomson, 1796. — Livingston. Stevens, and Roosevelt, 
1800.— Hunter and Dickinson, 1800.— Edward Shorter, 1800— Samuel 
Brown, 1800 

CHAPTER II.— 1800-1819. 

Wm. Symington's Steam-Tug, 1802. — Robert Fulton's French Experiments, 
1802-4.— Oliver Evans, 1802-4.— Stevens, 1804.— The Clermont, Fulton's 
first successful Steamboat, 1807. — Robert L. Stevens, 1808. — Jonathan 
Nichols, 1807-9. — Inland Steam Navigation, United States, 1809. — John 
Cox Stevens's Sea-Voyage, 1809. — Robert Fulton's Patent, 1811. — Rapid 
Traveling in Steamboats, 1811. — First Steamboat on the Western Waters 
of the United States, 1811. — Fulton's Steamboats, 1812.— Steamboat on 
the Delaware, 1812. — Steamboats between Philadelphia and New York, 
1818.— Hezekiah Bliss, 1810-19.— The Comet, and Henry Bell, 1812.— The 
Elizabeth, 1813.— The Clyde, and Glasgow, each 1813.— First Steamboat 
on the St. Lawrence, 1813.— Robert Fulton's Patent, 1813.— First Steam- 
boat in India, 1810, 1819, 1821.— Early English Steamboats, 1813-15.— 
Loss by Wreck of Steamers in War, 1812-14. — The Margery et al., 1814. 
— The Demologos, or Fulton the First, the First War Steamship, 1814. — 
Steamers- in England in 1814. — The Argyle, or Thames, 1815. — Steam 
Navigation adopted in Russia, 1815-16. — Trevatheniet's Patents on Screw- 
Propeller in England, 1815. — Roosevelt claims the Invention of Paddle- 
Wheels, 1814-16.— Liverpool Steam Ferry-Boat, 1816.— The Majestic first 
to cross the English Channel, 1816. — First Line of Steamboats, New York 
to New London, 1816. — lona Morgan's Steamboat in Maine, 1816. — 
First Steamboat commanded by Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1817, — First Steam 
Tow-Boat, 1816.— The Firefly, 1817.— First Steamboat on the Rhine, 1817. 
— The Manifest of First Steamboat to Boston, 1817. — First Steamboat on 

5 



CONTENTS, 

-Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat, 1813-15. — The 
first English Steam-Tug, 1818. — Steamers between the Mersey and Clyde, 
1819.— First Steamer, Liverpool and Ireland, 1819 44 

CHAPTER III.— 1819-18S8. 

The Savannah, the First Ocean Steamship, 1819. — David Napier's Enterprise,' 
1819-22.— First Steamboats on the Missouri, 1819.— The Robert Fulton 
Steamship between New Orleans and New York, 1819. — Walk-in-the- 
Water, First Steamboat on Lake Erie, 1819. — First Steamboat on Lake 
Michigan, 1827. — First Kamsgate Steamboat, 1820.— First Steam- Vessels 
in the Royal Navy, 1820-23. — French Oflacers sent to United States to 
inquire about Steam-Yessels, etc., 1820. — First Steamboat on the Indus, 
1820.— First Sea-going Steamboat for Hull, England, 1821.— First Steam- 
boat Excursion from New York to Providence, 1821. — First Steamboat 
Line between Providence and New York, 1822. — David Gordon's Patent 
for Boxing Paddle-Wheels, 1822. — Table of Comparative Voyages of 
Sailing- and Steam- Vessels, 1822. — Number of Steamboats on American 
Waters, 1823. — Captain de Lisle proposes Screws to be applied to French 
Ships of the Line, 1823. — Delangue, of Paris, patents a Screw, 1824. — 
Steamer Enterprise goes from London to Calcutta, 1825. — Jacob Perkins's 
Propeller, 1825. — Samuel Brown's Canal Towing Company's Propeller, 
1825.— Steamboat Speed on the Hudson, 1826.— Woodcroft's Screw, 1826. 
— Winter Steamboats between Philadelphia and New York, 1827. — The 
Atlas launched at Rotterdam, 1828. — The Swift, First Steamer in Turkey, 
1828.— The Cura9oa, 1828.— The Steam-Brig New York, 1826.— Patten's 
Screw ; Copley's Screw ; Pettier's Screw, 1830. — First Steamboats on the 
Danube, 1830. — Temperance Resolutions of the Livingston Steam-Packet 
Company, 1829. — The Meteor, the First Ship of the Royal Navy to carry 
the Mails, 1830. — The Hugh Lindsay, First Steamer to navigate the Red 
Sea, 1830. — Girard's Screw, 1831. — First Steamer to arrive at Chicago, 
1831.— Woodcroft's Screw, 1832.— First Wrought-Iron Steamboat, 1832.— 
The Firebrand's Long Voyage, 1833. — First Vessel of the Royal Navy to 
West Indies, 1832.— Junius Smith, the Originator of Ocean Steam Navi- 
gation, 1832-38. — The Second Steamship to cross the Atlantic, 1832. — First 
Steamer on the Merrimac River, 1834. — Smith's Screw, 1835. — Fitz- 
patrick's, 1835.— French Steamboats, 1836.— First Steamer to China, 1832. 
— An American Ironclad, 1836. — Commodore Barron's Ram, 1836. — Steam 
Tow-Boats introduced on the Delaware, 1836. — Steam-Vessels of Great 
Britain, 1836-37.— The Francis B. Ogden, Ericsson's First Practical Screw 
Steamer, 1836.— The Enterprise, 1839.— The Robert F. Stockton Screw, 
1838-39. — Crossing the Atlantic under Sail. — The Princeton, First Screw 
War Steamer. — Smith's Screw Steamer Archimedes, 1836-38. — The Rattler, 
First English Screw War Steamer, 1843. — Austrian, Russian, and Hun- 
garian Steamers, 1837. — Dr. Lardner on Steam Navigation of the Atlantic, 
1837.— Steam-Vessels of the United States, 1838.— The Germ of the United 
States Navy, 1837 109 

CHAPTER IV.— 1838-1858. 

The Inauguration of Regular Transatlantic Steam Navigation. — Arrival of 
the City of Kingston at New York from Cork, April 2, 1838.— Arrival 
of the Sirius from Cork and the Great Western from Bristol at New York, 
April 23, 1838.— The President, 1839.— The British Queen, 1839.— Di- 
mensions of the Earliest and Largest Transatlantic Steamships, 1840. — 
Miscellaneous Notes.— The Cyclops, Steam Frigate, 1840.— The Nemesis, 



CONTENTS. 7 

1840.— The Screw Steamer Archimedes, 1840.— The Argyle, Chili, and 
Peru, 1839.— The Cunard Line Inaugurated, 1840.~The Bangor, 1842. 
— The French Steam Navy, 1840. — Screw Steamers in Great Britain, 
1842. — Steam Navigation on the Indus, Established 1842. — The Driver, 
the First Steamship to Circumnavigate the Globe, 1842. — United States 
Steamship Princeton, the First Screw Steam War-Yessel^^ 1843. — H. M. 
Ship Rattler, the Second Screw Steam War-Vessel, 1843. — The Great 
Britain, 1843.— First English Steam Collier, 1814.— The Midias and Edith, 
the First Steam Screw Vessels to China, 1844-45.— The Witch, 1845 — 
American Mail Steamships to Havre and Bremen, 1845-50. — The Pro- 
peller Massachusetts, 1845. — Thames Steamboats, 1845. — The North River 
Steamer Oregon, 1846. — The First French Atlantic Steamer, 1847. — First 
American Steamer to the Pacific, 1848. — The Gemini Iron Twin Steamer, 
1850.— Screw Steamship Himalaya, 1851.— The Francis Skiddy, 1852.— 
The Australian, 1852. — The Argo, the Second Steamship and First Screw 
to Circumnavigate the Globe, 1854. — The Golden Age, 1854. — The Cunard 
Steamer Persia, 1855. — Steam Vessels of the Royal Navy, 1856 175 

CHAPTER v.— 1858-1882. 

The Great Eastern, 1858 ; Description of the Vessel, etc. ; Her First Voy- 
age to New York and Arrival described. — The Emperor, a Steam Yacht, 
presented to the Japanese, 1859. — The Scotland and England purchased by 
the Prince of Satsuma, 1861.— The Monitor, First Turreted Steam War- 
Vessel, 1861.— The Faid Rabani Yacht of the Khedive, 1863.— Number 
of British Inventions patented in the Ten Years preceding 1866. — Steamers 
on Lake Memphremagog, 1867. — The Kate Corser, the First Steamer on 
the Great Salt Lake, 1869. — An Extraordinary Inland Voyage, 1869. — 
• Coal-Saving Discovery, 1872.~-The Cable Steamer Faraday, 1873.— A 
Chinese Steamboat Enterprise, 1874. — The Bessemer Anti-Sea-Sick Steam- 
boat, 1875.— The Double-Hulled Castalia, 1875.— The lona, 1876.— Steam- 
boats in Corea, 1878. — The Solano, 1879. — The Remarkable Voj^age of a 
Wrecked Steamer, 1880.— The Comet on Lake Bigler, 1880.— A Mountain 
Steamer on Twin Lakes, 1880. — The Three Brothers transferred to the 
British Flag, 1880.— A Canal-Boat propelled by Air, 1880.— The Hochung, 
the First Chinese Steamer to cross the Pacific, 1880. — The Chinese Steamer 
Meefoo arrives at London with a Cargo of Tea, 1881. — Taggart's Screws, 
1880. — The Anthracite, the Smallest Steamer that has crossed the At- 
lantic, 1880.— The Harriet Lane, 1881.— The Dessoug, 1881.— A Hydraulic 
Ship, 1881.— A Novel Steam Yacht, 1881.— The Kittatinny, 1881.— Steam- 
boat Disaster, 1881.— The Fall River Line, 1882.— A West India Steamship 
Enterprise, 1882. — The Colossus, 1882. — Recent Novel Inventions and 
Experiments. — MdVse's Unsinkable Ship. — Lundborg's Twin-Screws. — 
Root's Side-Screw Steamship. — Coppin's Triple Steamship. — Fryer's 
Buoyant Propeller. — Rosse's Catamaran Steam Tugs 221 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Great Ocean Steamship Companies. — General Remarks, Ocean 
Tramps, etc. — The Cunard, 1840. — The Peninsular and Oriental, 1840. 
—Pacific Steam Navigation, 1840.— Royal West India Mail, 1841.— 
Collins Line, 1847. — Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 1848. — Warren 
Line, 1850. — Inman Line, 1850. — The Messageries Maritimes, 1851. — 
Allan Line, 1854 — Hamburg American Packet Company, 1855. — Anchor 
Line, 1856. — North German Lloyds, 1857. — Leyland Line, 1860. — Com- 
pagnie Generale Transatlantique, 1862. — National Steamship Company, 



CONTENTS. 

1863.— Williams & Guion Line, 1866.— Old Dominion Line, 1867.— White 
Star Line, 1870. — American or Keystone Line, 1871. — City Line. — State 
Line, 1872.— Bed Star Line, 1873.— The Monarch Line, 1874.— Harrison 
Line. — Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah. — The Mitsu-Bishi Steam 
Navigation Company, 1875. — The Atlas Steamship Company. — Roach's 
United States and Brazil Steamship Line, 1875. — The Mallory Line. — 
The Bed "D'' Line, 1879. — New York, Havana, and Mexican Mail Line. 
— Boston and Savannth Steamship Company, 1882. — Thingvalla Line, 
1882. — West India Steamship Enterprise 305 



ni(A^ /A^^ />ixvA-v2 




HISTORY 



i*v. 




STEAM ]^AVIGATION, 



CHAPTER I. 1543-1800. 



A HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Early Experimenters : Blasco de Garray, 1543. — David Eamseye, 1630. — Salomon 
de Carrs, 1641.— Marquis of Worcester, 1663.— Denis Papin, 1690-95.— Thomas 
Savary, 1698.— M. Duguet, 1699.— Jonathan Hulls, 1736.— M. Gautoir, 1752.— 
David Bournoulli, 1753.— Euler, 1753.— Mathon de la Cour, 1753.— M. Gautoir, 
1756. — M. Genevois, 1759. — Comte de Auxiron, 1774. — Perrier, 1775. — M. Du- 
crest, 1777. — Guyon de la Plombiere, 1776. — Andrew ElHcott, 1775. — Marquis 
de Jouffroy, 1778 and 1783.— fhomas Paine, 1778.— Matthew Washbrough, 
1779.— Abbe Darical, 1782.— Desblancs, 1782.— James Kumsey, 1784 and 1788. 
— William Bushnell, Inventor of the Screw, 1784. — Joseph Bramah, 1785. — 
John Fitch, 1785-91. —Oliver Evans, 1788.— Nathan Pvead, 1788.— Patrick 
Millar, James Taylor, William Symington, 1788. — William Longstreet, 1790. 
—John C. Stevens, 1791.— Baron Seguier, 1792.— Earl Stanhope, 1792-94.—' 
Elijah Ormsbee, 1792-94.— William Littleton, 1794.— Samuel Morey, 1794-97. 
— Edward Thomson, 1796. — Livingston, Stevens, and Roosevelt, 1800. — Hunter 
and Dickinson, 1800.— Edward Shorter, 1800.— Samuel Brown, 1800. 

IBIfS. — It has been asserted that Blasco de Garray, a native of Bis- 
cay, June 17, 1543, tried a vessel of two hundred and nine tons, called 
the '' Trinity," with tolerable success, at Barcelona, in Spain, the motive- 
power of which consisted of a caldron of boiling water and a movable 
wheel suspended on each side of the vessel. 

The story or legend of De Garray is this : 

In 1543 a native mechanic of Marina, named Blasco de Garray, 
or, according to other accounts, a captain in the navy, the probability 
being he was made one for his invention, offered to exhibit in the pres- 
ence of the Emperor Cha les Y. a machine by means of which a vessel 
might be impelled without the assistance of sailors or oars. The propo- 

2 9 



10 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

sition appeared ridiculous, but De Garray was so convinced that the 
power of his machine would be adequate to the production of the effect 
announced, that he renewed his representations to the government, sup- 
plicating his majesty to command the execution of the project. The 
emperor, in consequence, appointed a commission to proceed to Barce- 
lona to witness the experiment and to report upon the result. De 
Garray, secure now of making a proof of his invention, prepared a 
merchant ship called ^'La Trinidad," of two hundred tons burden, 
which came from Coubre to discharge a cargo of corn at Barcelona, of 
which Peter de Scary was captain (thus states the record), and the com- 
missioners, Don Henry de Toledo, the Governor Don Pedro de Cor- 
dova, the Treasurer Ravago, and the vice-chancellor, having arrived, 
the experiment was made on the 17th of June, 1543. Immediately 
upon a given signal the vessel was put in motion ; proceeding forward, 
it turned from one side to the other, according to the will of the steers- 
man, and finally returned to the place whence it started, without the 
assistance of sails, oars, or any visible machinery, except an immense 
caldron of boiling water, a complicated number of wheels within, and 
paddles gyrating without. The multitude assembled on the sea-shore 
were filled with admiration at the sight of this prodigy, the port of 
Barcelona resounded with applause, and the commissioners, who wit- 
nessed the performance with the greatest enthusiasm, related to the 
emperor thatDe Garray had accomplished with his machine all he had 
undertaken to do. But the head of the commission, Ravago, who was 
the chief treasurer of the kingdom, through ignorance or ^ome other 
of those unknown causes which influence the conduct of statesmen, 
showed himself little favorable either to the inventor or the machine. 
Confessing the success of the experiment, and expressing his approba- 
tion of the ingenuity of De Garray, he endeavored to persuade the 
emperor that the invention would be of little or no utility ; that its 
complicated construction would require constant repairs, attended with 
immense expense; that the vessel would not proceed at the rate of 
much more than a league an hour, and more slowly when freighted; 
and finally, that the boiler, unable to resist the force of the steam for 
any extended period, would frequently burst and be productive of the 
most dreadful accidents. Such was the substance of the opinion given 
by this covetous or invidious minister. Though Charles V. was influ- 
enced by the representations of his treasurer, he was not insensible to 
the merits of the inventor, whom he promoted one grade to the rank 
of an officer, and in addition to paying him the expenses of the ex- 
periment, presented him with a reward of two hundred thousand ma- 
ravedis from the royal treasury, equivalent to sixty-six thousand reales 
de vellon, a very considerable sum at that period, the munificence of 
which proves that the invention of De Garray equaled, if it did not 
surpass, the most extraordinary productions of that era. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 11 

This statement was first published in 1825, by Thomas Gonzales, 
who certified : " This account is derived from the documents and origi- 
nal registers kept in the royal archives of Simancas, among the com- 
mercial papers of Catalonia, and from those of the military and naval 
departments for the said 1543." 

Mr. Woodroft, after a careful search among those papers, failed to 
discover the documents in question or any trace of De Garray's 
invention. 

John MacGragor, Esq., in a paper read before the Society of Arts, 
April 14, 1858, stated: 

"On the 23d of September last (1857) I visited the town of Siman- 
cas, near Valladolid, in Spain, with Captain John Ussher, to inspect 
some letters of Blasco de Garray, which are there preserved among the 
national archives. 

" Having obtained the requisite royal permission, I was allowed, 
after much difficulty, to read (but not to copy) two letters signed by 
Blasco de Garray, written clearly in Spanish and well preserved. One 
of these was addressed from Malaga, the other from Barcelona ; and 
both were dated a.d. 1543. They described two separate experiments 
with different vessels, both of them moved by 'paddle-wheels turned by 
men, 

" One vessel was stated to be of two hundred Spanish tons burden, 
propelled by a paddle-wheel on each side, worked by twenty-five men. 
The other vessel was moved in a similar manner by forty men. The 
speed attained is mentioned in the texts, and is stated in a side-note 
(written in a different hand) to have been one league, or about three 
and a half English miles, per hour. Various calculations as to the 
tonnage, the motive-power, the cost, and other matters are contained in 
the letters, and it is said the vessels thus moved were found to steer 
well, but could be propelled more easily for a long time by oars. Also 
that, like other inventions, this would probably be improved by the 
experience of further trials. We read the letters carefully through, and 
neither of them contained any mention whatever of the use of steam, or 
any expression to indicate that this was contemplated.'^ 

There were no other letters of De Garray, or documents relating to 
his experiment, in the archives, and no traces of the relics of the ma- 
chinery could be found at the school of artillery. Since Mr. Mac- 
Gragor's visit M. Bergenroth has been allowed to copy the documents 
relating to De Garray. 

1. A notograph from him to the emperor dated Malaga, September 
10, 1540, containing his report on the trial of one of his paddle-wheel 
ships. 

2. The report of Captain Des Ugasura on the same trial trip. 

3. The report of the Provedores of Malaga concerning the same 
trip, dated July 24, 1540. 



12 HISTORY OF 8TEAM NAVIGATION. 

4. The report of Blasco de Garray to the emperor, dated July 6, 
1543, concerning the trial trip of another of his paddle-wheel ships, 
made at Barcelona in June, 1543. 

5. A letter of Blasco de Garray to Carrs, dated June 20, 1543. 
In none of these is any reference to steam-power to be found. 

Blasco de Garray's connection with the invention of boats moved 
by steam, notwithstanding the prominence and general belief it has 
attained, may hereafter be dropped as having no foundation in fact. 

1630. — In Sanderson's edition of Rymer's " Foedera/' vol. xix., 
there is a copy of a patent granted by Charles I. to David Raraseye, a 
groom of the privy chamber, dated January 21, 1630. Among its 
specifications is one " to raise water from low pits by fire," and another 
"to make boats, shippes, and barges to go against strong wind and 
tide." 

164-1' — The following letter written by Marion Delorme, dated at 
Paris, February, 1641, suggested to Dumas one of the best scenes in 
one of his wonderful romances : 

" Paris, February, 1641. 
'' My dear Effiat, — While you were forgetting me at Narbonne, 
and giving yourself up to the pleasures of the court and the delight 
of thwarting M. le Cardinal de Richelieu, I, according to your express 
desire, am doing the honors of Paris to your English lord, the Mar- 
quis of Worcester ; and I carry him about, or rather he carries me, 
from curiosity to curiosity, choosing always the most grave and serious, 
speaking very little, listening with great attention, and fixing on those 
whom he interrogates two large blue eyes, which seem to pierce to the 
very centre of their thoughts. He is remarkable for never being satis- 
fied with any explanations which are given him ; and never sees things 
in the light in which they are shown to him. You may judge of this 
by a visit we made together to Bic^tre, where he imagined he had dis- 
covered a genius in a madman. 

"If this madman had not been actually raving I verily believe 
your Marquis would actually have entreated his liberty, and have carried 
him off to London, in order to hear his extravagances from morning 
to night at his ease. 

" We were crossing the court of the mad-house, and I, more dead 
than alive with fright, kept close to my companion's side, when a 
frightful face appeared behind some immense bars, and a hoarse voice 
exclaimed, 'I am not mad! I am not mad! I have made a discovery 
which would enrich the country that adopted it !^ ^ What has he dis- 
covered ?' I asked the guide. ' Oh,' he answered, shrugging his 
shoulders, ^something trifling enough, — you would never guess it : it 

IS THE USE OF THE STEAM OF BOILING WATER.' I began tO laugh. 

' This man,' continued the speaker, ^ is named Salomon de Carrs ; 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 13 

he came from Normandy four years ago, to present to the king a state- 
ment of the wonderful effects that might be produced from this inven- 
tion. To listen to him you would imagine that with steam you could 
NAVIGATE SHIPS, move carriages, — in fact, there is no end to the mira- 
cles which, he insists upon it, could be performed. The cardinal sent 
the madman away without listening to him. Salomon de Carrs, far 
from being discouraged, followed the cardinal wherever he went, with 
the most determined perseverance, who, tired of finding him forever in 
his path, and annoyed to death with his folly, ordered him to be shut up 
in the Bic^tre, where he has now been for three years and a half, and 
where, as you hear, he calls out to every visitor that he is not mad, but 
that he has made a valuable discovery. He has even written a book 
upon the subject, which I have here*.' 

^^ Lord Worcester, who had listened to this account with much in- 
terest, after reflecting a time, asked for the book, of which, after read- 
ing several pages, he said, ^ This man is not mad. In my country, 
instead of shutting him up, he would have been rewarded. Take me 
to him, for I should like to ask him some questions.' 

'^He was accordingly conducted to his cell, but after a time he 
came back sad and thoughtful. ' He is indeed mad now,' said he ; 
^ misfortune and captivity have alienated his reason, but it is you who 
have to answer for his madness. When you cast him in that cell you 
confined the greatest genius of the age !' After this we went 
away, and since that time he has done nothing but talk of Salomon 
de Carrs. Adieu ! my dear and faithful Henry. Make haste and 
come back, and pray do not be so happy where you are as not to keep 
a little love for me. 

" Marion Delorme." 

1651. — An anonymous pamphlet was published in London in 
1651, entitled "Inventions of Engines of Motion lately brought to 
Perfection," etc. The author claims " to have erected one little engine 
or great model at Lambeth," which among its capabilities was intended 
"^0 draw or haul ships, boates, etc., up river against the stream." 
Steam is not indicated in the pamphlet, but it is difficult to conceive 
any other agent, unless some explosive compound by which the press- 
ure of the atmosphere was exerted. 

1668. — The Marquis of Worcester published a little book in 1663, 
which he called " A Century of the Names and Scantlings of Inven- 
tions." In it he evidently describes an engine capable of raising 
water by the repellant power of steam. In this book one hundred 
inventions are enumerated, but the account of each is so short as often 
to be very obscure. Among his other boasts he says, " I can make a 
vessel, of as great a burden as the river can bear, to go against the 
stream, which the more rapid it is the faster it shall advance, and the 



14 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

movable part that works it may be by one man still guided to take 
advantage of the stream, and yet steer the boat to any point ; and this 
engine is applicable to any vessel or boat whatsoever, without therefore 
being made on purpose ; and it worketh these effects, — it moveth, it 
draweth, it driveth (if need be) to pass London Bridge against the 
stream at low water ; and a boat lying at anchor, the engine may be 
used for loading and unloading/' A recent investigation of his patent 
shows, as it is expressly so stated, that he had no idea of using steam, 
but " the force of the wind or stream caused its motion/' 

1690. — Denis Papin, a French engineer, who was forced, after the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to quit his country, took refuge at 
the court of the landgrave of Hesse, and was a professor of mathe- 
mathics at the University of Marburg, during several years. In 1690 
he published a methodical and clear description of the fire-engine, now 
known as the atmospherical engine, and suggested the practicability 
of applying the power of steam to the navigation of rivers. 

1695. — Papin, in another work dated 1695, says, ^' It would be too 
long to describe here in what manner this invention (the atmospherical 
engine) could be applied to drain rivers, throw bombs, and row against 
wind. I cannot abstain from remarking how much this power would 
be preferable to that of galley-slaves to navigate with rapidity the sea.'' 
Papin next criticises the use of men as agents, who, he says, occupy a 
larger space, and consume a great deal, even when they do no work,- 
and observes that his tubes or pumps would be less cumbersome; 
" but," he adds, '^ as they cannot be conveniently adapted to ply 
common oars, it would be necessary to apply to them rotatory oars." 
He mentions having seen oars of that description fixed to an axle-tree 
in a boat belonging to Prince Eobert of Hesse, which were turned by 
horses. He thought, however, that they might be put in motion by 
the aid of a steam-engine. To Denis Papin is attributed the invention 
of the safety-valve. 

The " Encyclopaedia Britannica" appears to think that Papin's 
suggestions for the application of steam to navigation must be con- 
sidered as theory alone, never carried out. But his correspondence 
with Leibnitz, which has recently been brought to light, fully proves 
that he actually constructed a steamboat which he navigated upon the 
river Fulda in 1707, which boat may serve as a warning to men not 
to be too clever for their age. M. Fournier relates that Papin labored 
at his construction for some years at Hanau, and that at Cassel the 
boat was launched in presence of the landgrave. The experiment 
succeeded, but he derived fron? it only scorn, ridicule, and abuse. He 
was treated as a charlatan and a fool. Disgusted with the conduct of 
the Hessians, Papin attempted to go to London in his steam-vessel. 
He descended the Fulda as far as Miinden, and was entering the Weser, 
formed by the union of the Fulda and Werra, when the boatmen of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 15 

Miinden, envious or suspicious of what might arise from the invention, 
laid violent hands upon him and his boat. He escaped with difficulty, 
but his boat was destroyed. He tried in vain to obtain redress; and 
then came to reside in London, where he died three years afterwards 
(1710) without having built a new boat. 

1698. — July 25, 1698, Captain Thomas Savary, an Englishman, 
took out a patent for raising water by the impellant force of fire. The 
same year he recommended the use of paddle-wheels similar to those 
now employed on steam-vessels, though without in the remotest degree 
alluding to his engine as a prime mover. It is probable he intended 
to employ the force of men or animals working a winch. In 1696 he 
obtained a patent for rowing ships with greater ease and expedition 
than had hitherto been done by any other. In 1698 " he believed steam 
might be made useful to ships/' but not daring to meddle with the 
matter, left it to the judgment of those who were better judges of 
maritime affairs. 

1699. — M. Duguet appears to have tried revolving oars ; and ex- 
periments were made with them on a large scale, both at Havre and 
Marseilles. This mode was soon given up as impracticable. 

1736. — John Barrow, under-secretary of the admiralty, in his 
autobiography says, " Neither Lord Stanhope, nor Fulton, nor the 
American Livingston, nor Patrick Millar, nor his assistant Symington, 
have the least claims of priority to the application of steam and wheels 
for propelling vessels. There can be no doubt that Jonathan Hulls 
was the real inventor of the steamboat.'' 

Jonathan Hulls was a man of no ordinary capacity, but we can- 
not admit that " he was the inventor of the steamboat f that must be 
conceded to Papin, who actually moved a boat by the power of steam 
on the Fulda in 1707. He, undoubtedly, in a rough way, was the 
first Englishman to point out how steam might be employed in the 
propulsion of vessels. His scheme was clever, but speculative. It 
did not obtain any practical trial, and like many other efforts of 
genius, came to nothing. John Scott Russell, in the ^' Encyclopsedia 
Britannica,'' however, asserts that Hulls not only made a model of 
his invention, but that a boat was actually constructed and usefully 
employed. 

According to the tradition of the neighborhood in which Hulls was 
born, he was the son of a mechanic of Hanging- Aston, near Campden, 
Gloucestershire; his name being entered in the baptismal register 
December 17, 1699. Thomas Hull, or Hulls, the father, having re- 
moved from Aston to Campden, the boy was educated at the ancient 
grammar school there. With a natural turn for mechanics, Jonathan 
Hulls was brought up as a clock-maker, or rather clock-mender, — one 
of an humble class of artisans whose business it is to make a circuit 
through a district, cleaning and repairing cottage and farm-house clocks, 



16 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

and the clocks of churches. He married early, and settled in the 
hamlet of Broad Campden about 1729. 

During the earlier years of manhood Hulls bore the reputation of 
being a thoughtful and studious man, and his neighbors regarded his 
superior mental powers with no small degree of respect. It is asserted 
that the idea which has given him claim to posthumous honor occurred 
to him while he was yet young, and was matured in his mind long 
before any channel was opened through which he could make it known 
to the world ; for Hulls had a family to support, and no means beyond 
his precarious handicraft. A patron at last appeared in Mr. Freeman, 
of Batsford Park, whose seat (now that of Lord Eedesdale) is about a 
mile from Aston, the native place of the inventor. With the funds 
provided by this gentleman Hulls was enabled to go to London to 
procure a patent and to publish the pamphlet in which his invention is 
described. 

HuUs's patent is dated December 21, 1736, when he was thirty- 
seven years old, and bears the sign-manual of Queen Caroline as a 
witness. In this instrument the invention is described as a ^' machine 
for carrying ships and vessels out of or into any harbor or river against 
wind and tide ;" and further, it sets forth that as the inventor could 
not at that time '' safely discover the nature of his invention," he' 
might afterwards enroll a description of the same in the High Court 
of Chancery. 

The little pamphlet in which Hulls made his scheme known to the 
world was printed in London in 1737. It is entitled '^ A Description 
and Draught of a new-invented Machine for carrying Vessels or Ships 
out of or into any Harbour, Port, or Riv^er against Wind and Tide or 
in a Calm." In his preface he says, '^ There is one great hardship lies 
too commonly upon those who propose to advance some new though 
useful scheme for the public benefit. The world abounding more in 
rash censure than in a candid and unprejudiced estimation of things, 
if a person does not answer their expectations in every point, instead 
of friendly treatment for his good intentions, he too often meets with 
ridicule and contempt. But I hope this will not be my case, but that 
they will form a judgment of my present undertaking only from trial. 
If it should be said that I have filled this tract with things that are 
foreign to the matter proposed, I answer : There is nothing in it but 
what is necessary to be understood by those who desire to know the 
nature of that machine which I now offer to the world, and I hope 
that, through the blessing of God, it may prove serviceable to my 
country.^' 

Mr. Halls proposed to put his engine into a tow-boat, and in dis- 
cussing its advantages says, *' If this machine is put in a separate 
vessel, this vessel may lie in any port, etc., to be ready on all occasions. 
A vessel of small burden will be sufficient to carry the machine to 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 17 

take out a large one. A vessel will serve for this purpose for many 
years after she is not safe to be taken abroad." Alluding to the wheel 
being at the stern, "- When the wind comes ahead of the tow-boat the 
fans will be protected by it ; and when the wind comes sideways the 
wind will come edgeways of the fans, and therefore strike them with 
less force." Again he says, '^ The work to be done by this machine 
will be upon particular occasions, when all other means yet found out 
are wholly insufficient. How often does a merchant wish that his ship 
were on the ocean, when if she were there the wind would serve toler- 
ably well to carry him on his intended voyage, but does not serve at 
the same time to carry him out of the river, etc., he happens to be in, 
which a few hours' work of this machine would do." 

Hulls gives a full description of all the mechanism of this steam- 
boat, and shows how steam is applied, and the comparative advantages 
of having the steam machinery in the ship itself, or in a separate tow- 
boat. He seems to have studied the matter very fully, even to the 
consideration of the relative expense, and there seems to be no doubt 
of his having been the first inventor of an ingenious and practicable 
mechanism for propelling vessels by a condensing steam-engine and by 
paddle-wheels. 

This pamphlet seems to have attracted no attention, and Freeman, 
unwilling to risk further outlay, abandoned Hulls and his project. It 
is evident that the invention did not receive a practical trial, and 
whatever hopes the projector based upon its success were disappointed. 
Commercially, like all the ventures of Jonathan Hulls, it proved a 
complete failure. Incurring some derision from his want of success, he 
quitted the place where he was best known and hid himself among 
the crowds of London with what might be called a broken heart, and 
died in extreme poverty, the date of his decease being unknown. 

The following doggerel is still the burden of a common street-ditty 
among the boys of Campden in Gloucestershire, HuUs's native place : 

'' Jonathan Hulls, 
"With his patent skulls, 
Invented a machine 
To go against wind and stream ; 
But he, being an ass, 
Couldn't bring it to pass, 
And so was ashamed to be seen." ^ 

1752. — Gautoir, a regular canon, and professor of mathematics, 
presented to the Royal Society of Nancy a memoir, in which, having 
shown the inconveniences of navigation by means of sails, he proposed 
to employ a fire-engine (machine feu) of his invention for navigating 
purposes. 

In 1851 there was discovered in the archives of Venice a treatise 

^ Notes and Queries, vol. iii., first scries. 



18 HISTORY OF 8TEAM NAVIGATION. 

on " Navigation by Fire,' ^ by M. Gautoir, member of the Royal Society 
of Paris, which shows that the professor's plans for steam navigation 
were exhibited by him to the Venetian republic in 1756. 

1763. — Daniel Bournoulli wrote a memoir mathematically proving 
that a steam-engine might be advantageously used in vessels, which 
obtained a prize from the French Academy of Sciences. 

His proposition was to propel vessels by wheels, with vanes set at 
"an angle of sixty degrees both with the arbor and keel of the vessel, 
to which the arbor is placed parallel. To sustain this arbor and the 
wheels two strong bars of iron, of between two and three inches thick, 
proceed from the sides of the vessel, at right angles to it, about two feet 
and a half below the surface of the water.'' The propellers for the 
stern he describes to be of similar construction, but shorter, and for 
driving them he says they " can be moved by men aboard the vessels, 
or by steam-engines^ or on rivers by horses placed in the barges." 

Bournoulli's plan is described, and several modifications proposed, 
in " Annales des Arts et Manufactures," tome xx. p. 329 (a.d. 1803). 
These represent, by drawings, shafts annexed at the sides, bow, and 
stern of the vessel. Each shaft carries eight wheels, each wheel having 
eight spokes, with inclined broad vanes at the ends. It is suggested 
that a shaft might go out at the stern, under water, through a stuffing- 
box, and means are described for raising the shaft which is under water. 
The steam-engine is proposed to be used to turn the shaft by having a 
T cross-head on the piston-rod, working vertically, with a crank or 
connecting-rod at each end, turning wheels, one of which works the 
shaft. 

In 1753, Euler proposed to use a shaft with four floats at right 
angles. This was worked by a vertical shaft with a toothed wheel and 
pinion. Fincham's " History of Naval Architecture" has a drawing 
of this device. 

The same year " Mathon de la Cour proposed floats on each axle, 
and the intervention of an endless cord passing over a drum at the end 
of the axle, which was fastened to the side of the ship, and over a cor- 
responding drum annexed to the frame." ^ 

1759. — M. Genevois, a Swiss clergyman of the canton of Berne, 
published at Geneva a book containing what he called the discovery of 
the " Great Principle.''^ This was to concentrate power, by whatever 
means obtained, into a series of springs, which might be applied to a 
variety of purposes, among which he suggested the application of the 
" Great Principle" to propel a vessel by oars, and also proposed the 
application of an atmospheric steam-engine to bend or empower the 
springs by which the oars were to be worked ; but his favorite project 
appears to have been to accomplish that object by the expansive force 
of gunpowder. M. Genevois visited England in 1760 and submitted 
1 Fincham's History of Naval Architecture, London, 1851, p. 280, for drawing. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 19 

his plan to the Board of Admiralty, without receiving any encourage- 
ment. His apparatus resembled in principle the feet of aquatic birds, 
opening when moving through the water in one direction, and closing 
on its return. 

1774" — The Comte de Auxiron made an experiment, but his boat 
moved so slowly and irregularly that those who had been at the expense 
of the trial at once abandoned all hopes of success. 

177S. — The elder Perrier, for whom M. Arago claimed the honor 
of having constructed the first steamboat, and who was afterwards 
celebrated as the introducer of the manufacture of steam-engines into 
France, constructed in 1775 a vessel impelled by a steam-engine ; but 
the power of the engine was so small — being scarcely that of one 
horse — that it could not impart sufficient velocity to the vessel to ascend 
the river Seine to advantage. Not discouraged, and ascribing his failure 
to the use of paddle-wheels, he applied himself for several years to the 
search for other substitutes for oars. It does not, however, appear that 
he made any valuable discovery. M. Ducrest published a work in 
1777 which contains an account of various experiments made by 
Perrier in his presence. 

In 1776, Guyon de la Plombiere suggested the use of the steam 
engine for propelling a vessel.^ 

Mr. Andrew EUicott, an American, in 1775, states that he had a 
conversation on the subject of steam with Mr. William Henry, of 
Lancaster, who suggested the possibility of applying steam to vessels, as 
did also Mr. Thomas Paine, the author of *' Common Sense," in 1778. 

1778. — The Marquis de JouflProy made his first experiments, in 1778, 
at Baumes les Dames, and in 1781 he built upon the Saone a steam- 
vessel one hundred and forty feet long by twenty feet wide. In 1783 
his experiments became the subject of a favorable report made to the 
French Academy of Sciences by Borda and Perrier. M. de Jouffroy 
demanded a patent, but before it was granted the Revolution com- 
pelled him to emigrate. On his return to France, in 1796, he learned 
that M. de Blanc, an artist of Tr^voux, had obtained a patent for the 
construction of a steamboat. 

1779, March 10, — Matthew Washbrough took out a patent for ma- 
chinery to be attached to a steam-engine, one use of which he mentions 
as follows : '' Lastly, I intend to apply my engine, as described above, 
for the purpose of moving ships, boats, and lighters, or any vessel in 
water." 

1782. — The Abb6 Darical proposed several plans, which were not 
superior to Perrier's, and were speedily laid aside. In 1782, Desblancs 
sent a model to the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers of a steamboat 
moved by a chain of floats carried by wheels at its side turned by a 
horizontal cyJinder. 

^Encyclopedie Moderne, Paris, 1855. Article " Vapeur," 171. 



20 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

1783. — In the great Patent Office Library, England, there is a 
French print by Jaraont, dated a.d. 1816, entitled "Plan et profil du 
Bateau a Vapeur execute par M. le Marquis de JoufiProy a Lyon, en 
1783.'^ It represents a steamboat one hundred and forty feet long, 
with paddle-wheels on a shaft turned by a single horizontal steam 
cylinder and piston, with a double rack work and pauls on the piston- 
rod. 

" An experiment was tried in the river Thames on a coal-barge to 
work against the tide by means of an apparatus fixed to the sides ; so 
contrived that when put in motion, which was done by a fire-engine, 
it rowed three pair of oars, and required only the assistance of one 
man to steer. It seems rather too complex a business in its present 
state, but the plan appears practicable, and should it succeed by some 
judicious constructing, it must prove of immense advantage to the 
[coal?] trade.'' 1 

i7^^.— Moses Hunter, May 19, 1788, certifies that November, 
1784, being at Richmond, Virginia, attending the Assembly as a repre- 
sentative from Berkeley County, Mr. James Rumsey, a working bath- 
tender, informed him in confidence that " he intended to construct a 
boat which was to be wrought altogether by steam ; that he had tried 
the principles, some of which he mentioned." From the tenor of the 
conversation, he understood Rumsey that his principal dependence for 
the operation of his boat was upon steam. A rude model was exhibited 
to a company of visitors at Berkeley Springs in the year 1784. George 
Washington was one of the favored few who witnessed the successful 
launch of the little boat and testified to the value of the discovery. 
Fearful of his invention being stolen, Rumsey appears to have sworn 
all who witnessed the experiment to secrecy, for the certificate given 
him by General Washington, and meant for publication, is so carefully 
worded as to avoid using the word steam. It reads: 

^' I have seen the model of Mr. Rumsey's boat, constructed to work 
against the stream ; examined the powers upon which it acts; been eye- 
witness to an actual experiment in running waters of some rapidity ; 
and give it as my opinion (although I had little faith before) that he 
has discovered the art of working boats by mechanism and small 
manual assistance against rapid currents ; that the discovery is of vast 
importance, may be of the greatest usefulness in our inland navigation; 
and if it succeeds, of which I have no doubt, the value of it is greatly 
enhanced by the simplicity of the work, which, when explained, may 
be executed by the most common mechanic. 

"Given under my hand and seal, in the town of Bath, county of 
Berkeley, in the State of Virginia, this 7th day of September, 1784. 

"George Washington.'' 

^ British Magazine and Review, October 26, 1783. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 21 

In 1785 Rumsey gave a public exhibition on the Potomac, above 
Shepherdstown, Virginia, of his discovery tliat a boat could be pro- 
pelled by steam up-stream against the current. The boiler and ma- 
chinery for Rumsey's boat were made at the Catoctin Iron Furnace, in 
Frederick County, owned by Johnson and brothers. Afterwards, en- 
couraged by his success, he sailed for England, but first destroyed 'his 
precious model. He hoped in that older and richer country to perfect 
his work and realize fame and fortune. Doomed to disappointment, 
after a long and harassing struggle, he died before completing and 
satisfactorily demonstrating the principles of a new model. Rumsey 
accused Fitch of ^^ coming pottering around'^ his Virginia work-bench 
and carrying off his ideas, to be afterwards developed in Philadelphia. 
Rumsey died in England of apoplexy at a public lecture where he was 
explaining his inventions. 

A gentleman not many years ago had in his possession letters 
written by Rumsey in London, which mentioned his receiving frequent 
visits there from a young American studying engineering, who showed 
a sympathetic and intelligent interest in Rumsey's labors. This young 
man was Robert Fulton, who, nineteen years after Rumsey's death, gave 
the world a successful steamboat. 

1786. — Thomas Jefferson, writing from Paris in 1785, describes a 
vessel recently invented, which he examined while in operation. He 
says the inventor did not know the principle of his own invention. 
" It is a screw with a very broad or thin worm, or rather it is a thin 
plate, with its edge applied spirally round an axis. This being turned 
operates on the air as a screw does, and may be literally said to screw 
the vessel along. . . . The screw, I think, would be more effectual if 
placed below the surface of the water." Mr. Jefferson adds that he 
thinks Mr. Bushnell, of Connecticut, has a prior claim to the inven- 
tion of the screw as a motive-power for vessels. During our Revolu- 
tionary War he invented a submarine torpedo- vessel, to be driven by 
screws. This torpedo was the original of Fulton's, and may have been 
the first instrument of its kind ; but the screw had been suggested as 
a motive-power for vessels long before. Brande's Dictionary says that 
"the screw-propeller is probably as old as the windmill, and a wind- 
mill of the construction now usually employed is represented in the 
seventy-seventh proposition of Hero's ^ Spiritalia/ a work written one 
hundred and thirty years before the Christian era." 

For a century and a half efforts were made to introduce the screw 
as a propeller of vessels before Ericsson and Smith successfully demon- 
strated the utility of the screw, and its advantages over paddle-wheels. 

The first attempt to connect a steam-engine with a screw-propeller 
was by Joseph Bramah, of Piccadilly, engine-maker, who on the 9th 
of May, 1785, took out a patent for improvements in machinery, in- 
cluding two new methods of propelling vessels through the water. 



22 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

The first of these contrivances was the application of a paddle-wheel 
to the stern of the vessel, driven by a steam-engine, the rudder being 
placed in the bow, in order to facilitate this contrivance. 

His other invention was the application to the stern of the vessel 
of ^^a wheel with inclined fans or wings, similar to the fly of the 
smoke-jack or the vertical sails of a windmill." This wheel was to be 
fixed on the spindle of the rotatory engine without intermediate gear- 
ing, and wholly under water, where, by being turned either way, it would 
force the ship backward or forward, as the inclination of the fans or 
wings w^ould act as oars with equal force both ways, and their power 
be in })roportion to the size and velocity of the wheel, allowing the 
fans to have a proper inclination. Where the engine-shaft passed 
through the vessel it was to be made tight with a stuffing-box. 

This is considered to be the first attempt at coupling together a 
submerged screw-propeller and the steam-engine for the propulsion of 
vessels, but there is no evidence that Bramah ever made or tried a pro- 
peller, and his rotatory engine by which it was to be driven turned out 
a failure. 

At a special meeting of the American Philosophical Society of 
Philadelphia, held on the 27th of September, 1785, John Fitch laid 
before it a drawing and description of a machine for working a boat 
against a stream by means of a steam-engine, and on the 2d of Decem- 
ber following presented a copy of the model and drawing to the Society, 
as appears by the minutes of Samuel Magan, one of the secretaries. 

In the latter part of the year Fitch set out from Philadelphia with 
a view of visiting Kentucky, but he turned aside from his purpose at 
Richmond, and petitioned the Legislature of Virginia for assistance 
for his steamboat. No formal report was made, but believing that 
the experiment would not be costly, he executed a bond to Patrick 
Henry, governor of Virginia, conditioned that if he should sell one 
thousand copies of his map of the Western country in that State at 6s. 
8(i. each, he would, in nine months thereafter, exhibit a steamboat in 
the waters of Virginia or forfeit the penalty of three hundred and fifty 
pounds. 

In November of the same year he received from Patrick Henry, 
the governor of Virginia, the following certificate : ^ 

'' I certify that John Fitch has left in my hands a bond, payable 
to the Governor for the time being, for £350, conditioned for exhibit- 
ing his steamboat when he receives subscriptions for one thousand of 
his maps, 6s. 8d. each. 

(Signed) " P. Henry. 

"November 16, 1785." 

1 United States Patent Keports, 1849-50. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 23 

This provision was never put in operation, because the sales of the 
maps were very small. On his return to Pennsylvania to print the 
maps he stopped at Philadelphia, and presented a petition for assistance 
to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and immediately afterwards went 
to Annapolis and made a similar application to the Legislature of 
Maryland. These attempts were unsuccessful, and an eifort to induce 
the State of New Jersey to appropriate one thousand pounds of loan 
certificates for the purpose of building a steamboat also failed. Shortly 
afterwards the Legislature of the latter State enacted a law giving to 
John Fitch the exclusive right for fourteen years of making and using 
all and every species of boats and water-crafts which might be urged 
or propelled by fire or steam in the waters of the State. He then re- 
turned to Philadelphia, and succeeded in forming a company. The 
stock was divided into forty shares. The original subscribers were 
Samuel Vaughn, Richard Wells, Benjamin W. Morris, John Morris, 
Joseph Budd, John and Chamless Hart, Thomas Say, Magnus Miller, 
Gideon Hill ^yells, Thomas Palmer, Thomas Hutchins, Richard Wells, 
Jr., John Strother, Israel Israel, William Reubel, and Edward Brooks, 
Jr., each of whom had one share; Eichard Stockton, of Princeton, 
three shares; Benjamin Say, two shares. Stacy Potts, of Trenton, 
was an early member of the company, but soon withdrew from it. In 
the beginning it was agreed that Fitch should have twenty shares for 
his interest and services in the experiment. The first difficulty of the 
company was about the making of a steam-engine. The assistance of 
Henry Voight, an ingenious clock- and watch-maker of Philadelphia, 
whom Fitch looked upon as a practical man of sound sense and expe- 
rience, was obtained, and shares were gradually made over for his 
services, until in 1787 he held five. 

1786, — The subscribers generally paid in twenty dollars each on 
their shares, and with this small sum the experiments were commenced. 
A model steam-engine, w^ith a cylinder of one inch diameter, was made, 
but although it worked, it was too small to demonstrate anything. A 
new model, with a three-inch cylinder, was then made and applied to 
a small skiff. With this machinery trials were made on the Delaware, 
about the 20th of July, 1786, with ''a screw of paddles,^' a screw- 
propeller, the endless chain, and the side wheels, without much success. 
The next night, while in bed. Fitch thought of a plan of rowing the 
boat by oars or paddles on the sides, to be moved by cranks worked by 
machinery. He immediately rose and drew a plan, and the next morn- 
ing showed it to Voight, who approved of it with some modifications. 
This was afterwards tried on the skiff with the steam-engine, and the 
first boat successfully propelled by steam in America was moved in the 
Delaware on the 21th of July, 1786, with flattering promises of the 
future usefulness of the invention. 

The members of the company were so much pleased with its success 



24 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

that they determined to build a steamboat for practical use, as a pas- 
sage and freight boat. But the original subscriptions were now ex- 
hausted, and the shareholders were tardy in the payment of new 
installments. Fitch induced a committee of the Assembly of Penn- 
sylvania to report, in September, in favor of loaning him one hundred 
and fifty pounds ; but the House rejected the report by a vote of 
twenty-eight yeas to thirty-two nays. Application was made to Gen- 
eral Mifflin without success. Matters then languished for a while, 
during which a law was passed by the State of Delaware securing 
(1787) Fitch's right to the invention. A new deed was signed by the 
shareholders in February, 1787, and fresh advances were made. The 
engine was to be of twelve-inch cylinder, and the boat twelve feet beam 
and forty-five feet long. The engine was finished in May, 1787, but 
" the wooden caps'' to the cylinder admitted air, and the piston was 
leaky. The works were all taken out to the foundation and set up 
again, when the condensation was found to be imperfect. New con- 
densers and other machinery were made, and the boat moved at times 
as fast as three or four miles an hour. But something was continually 
going wrong. The work was very imperfect, the details of such ma- 
chinery being unknown in America, and the workmen common black- 
smiths. By entreaty the company was induced to persevere. On the 
22d of August, 1787, this boat was propelled on the Delaware in the 
presence of nearly all the members of the convention to frame the 
Federal Constitution ; but the rate of progress was too slow to satisfy 
the projector. JSTevertheless, certificates of the perfect success of this 
attempt were given by Governor Randolph, of Virginia, Dr. Johnson 
of the same State, David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, Andrew Elli- 
cott, professor in the Episcopal Academy, and Dr. John Ewiug, of the 
University. 

The following is the certificate of David Rittenhouse : 

^' This may certify that the subscriber has frequently seen Mr. 
Fitch's (John Fitch) steamboat, which with great labor and persever- 
ance he has at length completed ; and has likewise been on board when 
the boat was worked against both wind and tide, with considerable 
velocity, by the force of steam only. Mr. Fitch's merits in constructing 
a good steam-engine, and applying it to so useful a purpose, will no 
doubt meet with the encouragement he so richly deserves from the 
generosity of his countrymen, especially those who wish to promote 
every improvement of the useful arts in America. 

(Signed) ^^ David Rittenhouse. 

"Philadelphia, December 12, 1787." 

1786. — Fitch a year earlier communicated to ihQ\Columhian Maga- 
zine this description of his steamboat : 



J 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 25 

" Philadelphia, December 8, 1786. 

" To THE Editor of the Columbian Magazine : 

'^ Sir, — The reason of my so long deferring to give you a descrip- 
tion of the steamboat has been in some measure owing to the compli- 
cation of the works, and an apprehension tliat a number of drafts 
would be necessary in order to show the {)owers of the machine as 
clearly as you would wish. But as I have not been able to hand you 
herewith such drafts, I can only give you the general principles. It 
is in several parts similar to the late improved steam-engines in Eu- 
rope, though there are some alterations. Our cylinder is to be hori- 
zontal, and the steam to work with equal force at each end. The mode 
by which we obtain what I take the liberty of terming a vacuum is, 
we believe, entirely new, as is also the method of letting the water 
into it, and throwing it off against the atmosphere without any fric- 
tion. It is expected that the engine, which is a twelve-inch cylinder, 
will move with a clear force of eleven or twelve hundred weight after 
the frictions are deducted; this force to act against a wheel of eighteen 
inches diameter. The piston is to move about three feet, and each 
vibration of the piston gives the axis about forty evolutions. Each 
evolution of the axis moves twelve oars or paddles, five and half feet, 
which work perpendicularly, and are represented by the stroke of the 
paddle of a canoe. As six of the paddles are raised from the water 
six more are entered, and the two sets of paddles make their strokes 
about eleven feet in each evolution. The cranks of the axis act upon 
the paddles about one-third of their length from the lever end, on 
which part of the oar the whole force of the axis is applied. Our en- 
gine is placed in the boat about one-third from the stern, and both the 
action and reaction turn the wheel the same way. 

" With the most perfect respect, sir, I beg leave to subscribe myself, 
" Your very humble servant, 

"John Fitch.'' 

Oliver Evans, in 1814, affirmed before a justice of the peace in 
Washington, D. C, that when Fitch and his company were construct- 
ing their steamboat in Philadelphia he suggested the propelling of her 
by paddle-wheels at the sides. One of the company, Dr. Willianj 
Thornton, had also urged the use of wheels at the sides, but Fitch ob- 
jected to their use. He also affirmed that Fitch declared his intention 
to establish steamboats on Western waters, of the advantages of which 
he appeared to have formed the greatest expectations; further, about 
the year 1786-87 or 1788 Fitch informed him that he contemplated 
employing his steamboat on the lakes, and meant to construct it with 
two keels to answer as runners, and when the lakes should freeze over, 
he would raise his boat on the ice, and by a wheel on each side, with 
spikes in the rims to take hold of the ice, he calculated it would be 



26 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

possible to run thirty miles an hour ; also, that he meant to tow boats 
and other floats by steamboats. 

1787.— Uv. Patrick Millar, in 1787, published in English and 
French an account of his naval experiments, illustrated with plates, 
copies of which were presented to every sovereign in Europe, to the 
American States, and to the Royal Societies in London and Edin- 
burgh. In this work, speaking of the use of wheels as the moving 
power of vessels, he says, '^ I have reason to believe that the power of 
the steam-engine may he applied to work the wheels so as to give them a 
quicker motion, and consequently to increase that of the ship. In the 
course of the summer I intend to make the experiment,'^ etc. 

The same year Millar took out a patent for propelling boats by 
means of paddle-wheels turned by men. His vessel had a double deck, 
was sixty feet long, and had two wheels turned by two men each. 

During the summer Mr. James Taylor proposed to Millar the ap- 
plication of a steam-engine to the wheels of his boat in place of the 
men, who were soon fatigued by the labor necessary to force the boat 
to any speed through the water. Dr. Brewster, speaking of the inven- 
tion, says, '' That this gentleman was the inventor of the steamboat in 
the strictest sense of the word I will not venture to affirm, but I have 
no hesitation in stating it as my decided opinion that he is more enti- 
tled to this distinction than any other individual who has been named.'' 
Dr. Brewster was not aware of the successful experiment of Fitch a 
year earlier. 

1787, — The next and third boat propelled by steam within the 
waters of the United States was built this year, by James Rumsey, of 
Virginia, who had a long controversy with Fitch as to the priority of 
the application of steam as a moving power for vessels. Rumsey tried 
his boat at Shepherdstown, Virginia, on the 3d of December, 1787, 
and the success of his experiment is certified to by Major-General Ho- 
ratio Gates, Rev. Robert Stubbs, and others. This boat was propelled 
by sucking in water at the bow and ejecting it at the stern. It moved 
at the rate of four miles an hour, but made only one trip, and prob- 
ably did not go half a mile in distance. 

1788. — As early as 1788, Nathan Read, a graduate of Harvard 
and a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, devoted himself to the purpose 
of ap})lying steam-j30wer to navigation. Having learned of the un- 
successful experiments of Rumsey on the Potomac, and Fitch upon 
the Delaware the year previous, and believing their failure was owing 
to their ill-constructed machinery and modes of propulsion, he sought 
to overcome the difficulty by the invention and combination of ma- 
chinery of a different and more perfect kind. He believed this could 
be done by a modification of " Watt's" improved engine, also that the 
modes of propulsion used by Rumsey and Fitch — setting poles, oars, 
oaddles, or the ejection of water from the stern of the boat — -were awk- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 27 

ward and unsuitable. He succeeded in inventing a new boiler. This 
boiler was constructed of seventy-eight vertical tubes placed within it, 
and he called it the Multi-tubular boiler. 

1791. — In 1791 he obtained a United States patent for this boiler, 
and for the improvement of the steam cylinder, and for " a practical 
mode of driving or impelling boats or vessels of any kind in the water 
or against the current, by means of the chain-wheel, a rowing-machine, 
constructed and operating upon the general principles of the chain- 
pump, and moved by the force of steam or any other power, in the 
same manner as the chain-pump is moved. '^ 

1789. — Read constructed in 1789 a boat to which he attached 
paddle-wheels to an axis extending across the gunwales of the boat, 
turned by a crank, and designed to be moved by his high-pressure en- 
gine, with the continuous rotative principle of Watt. By means of 
the crank worked by hand Read propelled himself with great rapidity 
across an arm of the sea (called Porter's River) in Danvers. Satisfied 
from his experiment that paddle-wheels would drive a boat with great 
ease and speed when turned by the power of a steam-engine and controlled 
by its steady rotative principle, he determined to use paddle-wheels, and 
constructed a model of his steamboat accordingly, with a view to a 
patent. January, 1790, a committee of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences, and eleven of the most prominent citizens of Salem, 
certified to the importance of his improvements to the steam-engine. 

1790. — He petitioned Congress February 8, 1790, to grant him a 
patent for his inventions, specifying he had '' discovered an improved 
method of applying the power of steam to the purposes of naviga- 
tion,'' and " The machinery for communicating motion to boats, ves- 
sels, etc., is very simple and takes up but little room.'' No patent laws 
or regulations had been established or patents granted by the general 
government, but soon after his petition to Congress the "Act to pro- 
mote the progress of the useful arts" was passed, constituting the Sec- 
retaries of State and War and the Attorney-General a board of com- 
missioners, to whom all matters of this character were to be referred, 
and his application came before the new board. He first asked for a 
patent for a boat consisting of paddle-wheels, his newly invented 
boiler and improved cylinder, but in looking over some of the old 
volumes of " The Transactions of the Royal Society," he chanced to 
notice an article relating to an experiment a long time previous in 
France, which related that paddle-wheels and oars had both been tried 
to control a ship of war in a calm. Erroneously supposing such an 
experiment interfered with his right to a patent for a boat with paddle- 
wheels, he withdrew so much of his petition as related to them, and, 
January 1, 1791, presented a new petition and substituted a new pro- 
pelling agent, which he denominated a rowing-machine, to revolve like 
a chain-pump, which he believed would answer the next best purpose 



28 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

to paddle-wheels, which he still considered preferable. As Fulton ob- 
tained his patent for paddle-wheels in 1811, Read was surely entitled 
to a patent for similar wheels in 1791. The paddle-wheel had been 
rejected by Fitch and Perrier principally on account of the oblique 
resistance the paddles met with as they entered and emerged from the 
^ water, and which was greatly increased as the boat was laden. 

To obviate this Read constructed his wheels to be raised or lowered 
as occasion might require. 

The first patents issued under the authority of the United States 
were to Read, Fitch, Rumsey, and Stevens, under date August 26, 1791. 
Read's was for his portable-furnace tubular boiler ; Fitch's, for apply- 
ing steam to draw water in at the bow and force it out at the stern of a 
vessel ; Rumsey's, for propelling boats by means of the reaction of a 
stream of water forced by the agency of steam through a cylinder 
parallel to the keel, out of the stern. Stevens's was for propelling 
his boat in a like way. The patents of Rumsey, Fitch, and Stevens 
clashed in several particulars, but neither interfered with the patent of 
Read.i 

1788. — In 1788, Rumsey carried his invention to England and 
procured a patent for it. He then succeeded in inducing a wealthy 
American merchant to join him, and began building a steamboat. It 
was all but completed when Rumsey suddenly died. His partners got 
the vessel afloat in February, 1793, and sailed her many times on the 
Thames, against wind and tide, with a speed of four knots an hour. 

The thought of drawing water in at the bow and pushing it out 
at the stern was not new, and it has been said to have originated 
with Dr. Franklin, or to have come originally from France. Mr. 
Arthur Donaldson proposed it, also, to the Assembly of Pennsylvania 
in 1776. 

Rumsey published in 1788 a pamphlet entitled ''A Short Treatise 
on the Application of Steam ; whereby is clearly shown from actual 
experiments that steam may be applied to propel boats or vessels of any 
burden, against rapid currents, with velocity, etc. By James Rumsey, 
of Berkeley County, Virginia. Philadelphia, printed by Joseph James, 
Chestnut Street, 1788." 

The Newport Herald, dated March 6, 1788, contains the following 
item : ^' Mr. Rumsey's steamboat, with more than half her loading 
(upwards of three tons) and a number of people on board, made a 
progress of four miles in an hour against the current of Potomac River 
by the force of steam, without any external applicatioji whatever, im- 
pelled by a machine that will not cost more than twenty guineas for a 

^ Nathan Kead was born in 1759, and died in Belfast, Maine, January 20, 1849. 
in his ninetieth year. So he lived full ten years after the successful inauguration 
of ocean steam navigation. See Naihan Read, etc., by his friend and nephew, 
David Read, New York, Hurd & Houghton, 1870, 12mo, pp. xv. and 20. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 29 

ten-ton boat, and that will not consume more than four bushels of coal 
in twelve hours." 

1788. — The fourth steamboat in the United States was built in 
1788, by John Fitch, and proved eminently successful. This boat 
was sixty feet long, and had eight feet beam. The oars or paddles 
were placed at the sterriy and pushed against the water. The engine 
had a twelve-inch cylinder. About the end of July, 1788, she was 
propelled by steam froui Philadelphia to Burlington, some twenty 
miles, being the longest trip ever made by any boat under steam up to that 
time. On the 12th of October this boat took thirty passengers from 
Philadelphia to Burlington in three hours and ten minutes, a fact well 
authenticated by reliable certificates. Several other trips were made in 
1788 and 1789. 

Dr. Franklin writes to Dr. Ingenhauz, Philadelphia, October 24, 
1788 : " We have no philosophical news here at present, except that a 
boat moved by a steam-engine rows itself against tide in our river, and 
it is apprehended the construction may be so simplified and improved 
as to become generally useful.'' 

1788. — About the middle of October, 1788, a boat, the joint pro- 
duction of Patrick Millar, James Taylor, and William Symington, 
propelled by steam, was put in motion on the Lake of Dalswinton, in 
Scotland. A successful and beautiful experiment. The vessel moved 
delightfully, and, notwithstanding the cylinders were only four inches 
in diameter, went at the rate of five miles an hour. The engine, in a 
strong oak frame, was placed in a pleasure-boat, the boiler being par- 
allel to it on the opposite side of the vessel, and the paddles in the 
centre of the boat. The vessel continued to ply for some days for the 
amusement of the projector, and to the astonishment of the country 
people, who assembled from all quarters to see a boat driven by reik 
(smoke). After these experiments the engine was removed into the 
library of Dalswinton House, where it stood for a long time as an 
ornamental model. In 1870 it was on exhibition in London, and an 
engraving of it was published in the London Illustrated News. 

Satisfactory as was the result of this experiment, it did not fulfill 
all the designs of the inventors. A model vessel even as large as theirs 
might succeed and still leave it doubtful whether a larger scale might 
not impair the efficiency of the contrivance. Their success determined 
them to make an expensive trial on a large scale. From this deter- 
mination resulted their second steamboat, constructed in 1789. 

1789. — The date of commencing this vessel is fixed by the following 
letter, the original of which is preserved in the Millar family : 

" DuMFERLiNE, 6th of June, 1789. 

" Gentlemen, — The bearer, Mr. William Symington, is employed 
by me to erect a steam-engine for a double vessel, which he proposes to 



30 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

have made at Carron. I have therefore to beg that you will order the 
engine to be made according to his directions. As it is of importance 
that the experiment should be made soon, I beg also that you will 
assist him, by your orders to the proper workmen, in having it done 
expeditiously. I am ever, with great regard, gentlemen, your most 
obedient humble servant, 

" Patrick Millar. 
"To THE Carron Company, Carron/' 

It was proposed to make the second experiment on the Forth or 
Clyde Canal. For this purpose Mr. Millar's large twin or double 
pleasure-boat, the same he had previously used with paddle-wheels, 
driven by men, was sent up from Leith to the Forth and Clyde Canal, 
at Grangemouth, on the Frith of Forth, to receive the new steam- 
engine. 

This double or twin vessel was sixty feet in length, and had cylin- 
ders to her engines of eighteen inches diameter. Her engine was in 
all respects a larger machine than the first, but identical in construction, 
and of about twelve horse-power. At the first trial the boards of the 
paddle-wheels were broken by the concussion of the engine, which 
rendered the experiment incomplete, but on the 26th of December, 
1789, the experiment was repeated, and the vessel propelled at the rate 
of seven knots an hour. The next day the voyage was repeated with 
the same success. The vessel being a light skiflp with plank less than 
an inch thick, as soon as the experiments were over was replaced on 
her original station as a pleasure-boat, and the engine deposited at the 
Carron Works. 

The following account of this experiment, drawn up by Lord 
Cullen, was published in three of the Edinburgh newspapers : '^ It is 
with great pleasure I inform you that the experiment which some time 
ago was made upon the Great Canal here by Mr. Millar, of Dalswinton, 
for ascertaining the power of the steam-engine when applied to sailing, 
has lately been repeated with great success. Although these experi- 
ments have been conducted under a variety of disadvantages, as having 
been made with a vessel built for a different purpose, yet the velocity 
acquired was no less than six and a half to seven miles an hour. 

" This sufficiently shows that with vessels properly constructed a 
velocity of eight or nine, or even ten, miles an hour may be easily 
accomplished, and the advantages of so great a velocity in rivers, straits, 
etc., and in cases of emergency, will be sufficiently evident, as there can 
be few winds, tides, or currents which can easily impede or resist it, 
and it will be evident that even with slower motion the utmost advan- 
tage must result to inland navigation." 

1790. — John Fitch, June 22, 1790, petitioned the Secretaries of 
State and War, and the Attorney-General of the United States, that 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 31 

in the year 1785 he conceived the idea of applying steam to propel 
vessels through the water ; that the impossibility of procuring ex- 
perienced workmen and his total ignorance of the construction of a 
steam-engine, etc., caused him to expend about eight thousand dollars 
in experiments; that having at length fully succeeded, becomes forward 
as a man who, contrary to popular expectation, has really accomplished 
a design which will evince the many important advantages which must 
result to the United States. 

He adds to his petition : 

"The introduction of a complete steam-engine formed upon the 
newest and best principles, into a country like America, where labor is 
high, would entitle him to public countenance by encouragement inde- 
pendent of its use in navigation ; the great time and money he has 
expended in bringing his scheme to perfection have been occasioned by 
his ignorance of the improved state of the steam-engine, for not a 
person could be found who was acquainted with the minutia of Bolton 
& Watt's new engine. 

*' And whether your petitioner's engine is similar or not to those in 
England he is this moment totally ignorant; but is happy to say, that 
he is now able to make a complete steam-engine which in its effects, he 
believes, is equal to the best in Europe; the construction of which he 
has never kept secret. 

"On his first undertaking the scheme he knew there were a 
great number of ways of applying the power of steam to the propelling 
of vessels through the ^vater, perhaps all equally effective, but this 
formed no part of his consideration, knowing that if he could bring 
his steam-engine to work in a boat, he would be under no difficulty in 
applying its force; therefore he trusts no interference with him in 
propelling boats by steam, under any pretense of a different mode of 
application, will be permitted ; for should that be the case, the employ- 
ment of his time and the amazing expense attending the perfecting of 
his scheme would, while they gave the world a valuable discovery, and 
to America peculiar and important advantages, ^eventuate in the ruin 
of your petitioner; for a thousand different modes may be applied by 
subsequent navigators,' all benefited by the expense and persevering 
labor of your petitioner, and then sharing with him those profits which 
they never earned." 

1789-90. — The fourth steamboat built in the United States not 
being considered fast enough, the steamboat company which had ac- 
quired an interest in John Fitch's invention built a fifth, which was 
first tried December, 1789, about the time Millar was making his 
second successful experiment in Scotland. Her speed not })roving 
satisfactory, various alterations were made in her machinery, until 
April, 1790, when the most complete success was attained. In May, 
General Mifflin and the whole Supreme Executive Council of Penn- 



32 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

sylvania were passengers in her. The following account of this ex- 
periment is given by William Thornton, Esq., who was one of the 
company interested, and a passenger on board : 

^' The day was appointed, and the experiment made in the following 
manner. A mile was measured in Front Street (or Water Street) 
Philadelphia, and the bound projected at right angles as exact as could 
be to the wharves, where a flag was placed at each end, and also a 
stop-watch. The boat was ordered under way at dead-water, or when 
the tide was found to be without movement ; as the boat passed one 
flag it was struck, and at the same instant the watches were set off; 
as the boat reached the other flag it was also struck and the watches 
instantly stopped. Every precaution was taken before witnesses, the 
time was shown to all, the experiment declared to be fairly made, and 
the boat was found to go at the rate of eight miles an hour, or one mile 
within the eighth of an hour. The Governor and Council of Penn- 
sylvania were so highly gratified that, without their intentions being 
previously known, Governor Mifflin, attended by the Council in pro- 
cession, presented to the company, and placed in the boat, a superb silk 
flag, prepared expressly, which Mr. Fitch afterwards took to France 
and presented to the National Convention. '^ 

They were thus particular in ascertaining the exact speed of the . 
boat, as on her going at the rate of eight miles an hour depended the 
assignment of her in shares to a company. It seems to be a little un- 
certain whether the silk flag presented contained the arms of Pennsyl- 
vania or was simply the flag of the United States. 

The boat afterwards ran eighty miles in a day. She was placed 
upon the Delaware in the summer, and ran regularly as a packet, pas- 
senger, and freight boat for three or four months. Advertisements of 
her trips were published in the Philadelphia newspapers. Of these 
notices, twenty-three have been found, giving advice of thirty-one trips 
to Trenton, Burlington, Chester, Wilmington, and Gray's Ferry. One 
of these advertisements, taken from The Federal Gazette and Philadel- 
phia Daily Advertiser of Monday, July 26, 1790, is as follows. It 
will be seen it was thought sufficiently distinctive to call her the steam- 
boat, since there was none other in the world at that time : 

"THE 
STEAMBOAT 

Sets out to morrow morning at ten o'clock, from Arch Street Ferry, in order to tal^e 
passengers for Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown, and Trenton, and return next day. 
Philadelphia, July 26th, 1790." 

It is estimated that during the summer this steamboat passed over 
between two and three thousand miles. In the autumn she was laid 
up and never used afterwards, there not being sufficient travel and 
transportation to pay the expense of running her. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 33 

Before this conclusion was arrived at the company had projected 
and commenced building another, intended for the navigation of the 
Mississippi, and called the *^ Perseverance/^ She was of twenty-five 
tons burden, and rigged schooner fashion. The boat was completed, 
and her engines nearly so, when she broke adrift from her fastenings at 
the wharf, in a storm, and was blown on shore at Petty's Island, in 
the Delaware. Before she could be gotten off, the company in their 
attempts to simplify the machine had ruined it, and, moreover, had got 
into debt, which obliged them to sacrifice both boats and all the ma- 
chinery. 

1790. — William Longstreet, an American inventor, born in New 
Jersey, and who died in 1814, removed to Georgia. In 1790 he wrote 
a letter to Thomas Tolfairs, of Savannah, asking him to assist him in 
raising means to construct a boat to be propelled by steam. This letter 
was published in the Savannah and Augusta, Georgia, newspapers, but 
the funds were not immediately obtained. He subsequently obtained 
the necessary means for experiment, and constructed a small model boat 
upon a plan very different from Fulton's, which went on the Savannah 
River against the stream five miles an hour.^ 

1790. — Earl Stanhope, May 7, 1790, patented a Janits-shaped ves- 
sel, which he styled an '' Arabi-navigator,'' with a propeller in the form 
of a duck's foot, worked by a twelve-horse cross-head engine, with 
double connecting-rods. At the conclusion of the experiment it was 
laid up in Deptford Dock-Yard. This engine, at least such portion of 
it as could be made available, was in 1802 applied to the first steam- 
dredge^ built for the Admiralty. The '^ Ambi-navigator" had a novel 
description of rudder, styled by the inventor an ^' equipollant rudder." 

1791.— On the 26th of August, 1791, John Fitch obtained a 
United States patent for his invention, which is signed by George 
Washington, President, Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, who also 
certifies that the patent was delivered to him August 30. The patent 
recites " he having invented the following useful devices not before 
known or used,>viz. : for applying the force of steam to a trunk or 
trunks for drawing water in at the bow of a boat or vessel, and forcing 
the same out at the stern, in order to propel the boat or vessel through 
the water, for forcing a column of air through a trunk or trunks filled 
with water by the force of steam, and for applying the force of steam 
to cranks, paddles, for propelling a boat or vessel through the water.'' 
The said John Fitch, his heirs, etc., were granted for the time of four- 
teen years the sole and exclusive right and liberty of making, using, 
and vending to others the said inventions. 

At the request of Aaron Yail, Esq., the United States consul at 
L'Orient, John Fitch was sent in 1791 by the company to France for 
the purpose of building steamboats. A brevet of invention was granted 
^ Appleton's American Cyclopasdia. 



34 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

him on the 29th of November, 1791, for his invention, but in the 
'^ Description des Machines et Proced^s specific dans les Brevets d'ln- 
ventions expires Paris, 1811,'Mt is stated that Des Blancs had previously 
proposed a similar scheme, and that a model of his plan had been de- 
posited in the '^Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers." 

Mr. Yail, unable to obtain workmen to build the boats, paid the 
expenses of Mr. Fitch, who returned to the United States. Mr. Vail 
afterwards subjected to the examination of Mr. Fulton, when in France, 
the papers and designs of the steamboat appertaining to the company. 

Under date '' Philadelphia, 29 June, 1792,'' Fitch wrote to David 
Rittenhouse, " I conceive that navigation by steam will be the second 
mode of navigation, but can never take the preference of a fair wind, 
as air is much cheaper than steam. It may also be boldly asserted that 
it would be much easier to carry a first-rate man-of-war by steam at an 
equal rate than a small boat ; for in such a case we should not be so 
cramped for room, nor should we so sensibly feel a few pounds weight 
of machinery. 

" This, sir, whether I bring it to perfection or not, will be the mode 
of crossing the Atlantic in time, for packets and armed vessels." 

In his autobiography, Fitch uses this touching and prophetic lan- 
guage : " The day will come when some more powerful man will get 
fame and riches from my invention ; but nobody will believe that poor 
John Fitch can do anything worthy of attention."^ 

^ John Fitch. — The remains of John Fitch were interred in the village grave- 
yard of Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky, in the rear of the court-house and 
county jail, in 1798. Not a pebble of all the fine stone in the land marks his last 
resting-place. But his last will and testament is on record, as copied by a corre- 
spondent of the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, — viz. : 

" I John Fitch of the County of Nelson do make this my last will and testa- 
ment. To William Eowan Esq., my trusty friend my beaver hat shoe knee and 
stock buckles walking stick, and spectacles. To Doctor William Thornton of the 
City of Washington in District of Columbia. To Eliza Vail, daughter of Aaron 
Yail Consul of the United States at L'Orient. To John Kowan Esq. of Beards 
Town son of said William and to James Nourse of said town I bequeath all the 
rest of my estate real and personal to be divided amongst them share arid share 
alike and I appoint the said John Kowan Esq. and James Nourse Esq : my execu- 
tors and the legacies hereby bequeathed to them my said Executors is in considera- 
tion of their accepting the Executorship and bringing to a final close all suits at 
law and attending to the business of the estate hereby bequeathed. Hereby de- 
claring this to be my last will and testament this the 20th day of June One Thou- 
sand Seven Hundred and ninety-eight — Witness my hand and seal, 

"John Fitch. 
" Acknowledged, signed and sealed in presence of 

" James Nourse 
" Michael Bench 

Her 
"Susannah x McCown" 
mark 
On the 10th of July following the will was proved by the executors, and or- 
dered to be recorded. 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 35 

1791. — Colonel John C. Stevens, of Hoboken, New Jersey, com- 
menced his experiments in steam navigation in 1791, and by careful 
study succeeded in mastering the theory and practice of the steam- 
engine. With this knowledge as a basis he made further investiga- 
tions, which resulted in inventions, the first practical tests of which 
proved so satisfactory that he at once set about developing his ideas in 
order to devote them to the public good. His first attempts were made 
with a rotatory engine, for which he substituted one of Watt's. His 
first engineer proved an incorrigible sot. His second became a con- 
sumptive, and died before his experiment was completed. He then 
resolved to' depend upon his own resources, and built a workshop on 
his own estate, where he employed workmen under his own superin- 
tendence. It has been claimed that he invented the first tubular boiler 
about 1804, but Nathan Kead took out a patent for one in 1790. 
With various forms of vessels and different modifications of propelling 
apparatus, he impelled boats at the rate of five or six miles per hour. 
They were in truth more perfect than any of his predecessors, but did 
not satisfy his own hopes and sanguine expectations. 

1792. — Baron Seguier experimented with a submerged propeller. 

1792. — The Historical Chronicle of the Bee, page 23, says, " Earl 
Stanhope's experiments for navigating vessels by the steam-engine, 
without masts or sails, have succeeded so much to his satisfaction on a 
small scale, that a vessel of two hundred tons burden on this principle 
is now building under his direction. The expense of this vessel is to 
be paid by the Navy Board in the first instance, on condition that if 
she do not answer after the first trial, she shall be returned to Earl 
Stanhope, and all the expense made good by him." 

A similar account of the earl's steam-vessel appeared in the Gentle- 
men^ s Magazine for October, 1792 (page 956), where it is stated that it 
was then being built under his direction by Mr. Stalkart, the author 
of a very valuable work on naval architecture. About this time 
Robert Fulton, then living at Torbay, in Devonshire, held some corre- 
spondence with Earl Stanhope on the subject of moving ships by a 
steam-engine. 

1793. — The Earl of Stanhope, in 1793, revived the project of Ge- 
nevois, and this machine, in 1795, was placed in a boat furnished with 
a powerful engine, and tried by him in Greenland Dock. In this ex- 
periment the paddles were two gigantic duck's feet, suspended from 
either side of the vessel, and opening and shutting like huge umbrellas. 
He was unable to obtain for his boat a greater velocity than three miles 
an hour. While engaged in this experiment he received a letter from 
Kobert Fulton, who proposed the use of paddle-wheels ; and it is prob- 
able his neglect to listen to this suggestion caused a delay in the intro- 
duction of the steamboat of at least twelve years, for it cannot be 
doubted that the ingenuity of Fulton, backed by the wealth and influ- 



36 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

ence of Lord Stanhope, would have been as successful then as it was 
years later. 

It is not known at what date Fulton's intention was first directed 
to the application of steam to navigation, but among the papers of 
Mr. Fulton, after his death, was found a letter from the Earl of Stan- 
hope, dated at Holdsworth, Devon, October 7, 1793, in which he 
says, — 

^^ Sir, — I have received yours of the 30th of September, in which 
you propose to communicate to me the principles of an invention which 
you say you have discovered respecting the moving of ships by the 
means of steam. It is a subject on which I have made important dis- 
coveries. I shall be glad to receive the communication which you 
intend, as I have made the principles of mechanics ray particular 
study," etc. 

In 1792 or 1794, Elijah Ormsbee, a carpenter by trade and inventor 
by birth, and. a native of Connecticut, is said to have moved a boat 
successfully by steam. He had noted the difficulties of navigation on 
the Hudson River, and when afterwards he saw steam used as a power 
for pumping water from mines, saw how those difficulties could be 
overcome. One day, David Wilkinson, of Pawtucket, another inventor, 
stopped at Cranston, Rhode Island, where Ormsbee was at work, when 
Ormsbee said he had been thinking ^bout a steamboat, and added if 
Mr. Wilkinson would make the castings he would make the boat; to 
which Mr. Wilkinson agreed, and went home and cast and bored a 
cylinder, and made the necessary wrought-iron connections. Two 
kinds of paddles were proposed, one called a flutter- wheel (a side- 
wheel), the other termed a goose-foot, which they decided to try, as the 
power could be applied more cheaply. Mr. Ormsbee obtained from 
Messrs. Clark & Nightengale the loan of a long boat belonging to the 
ship " Abigail" for the experiment, and also borrowed from Captain 
Ephraira Bowen a copper still of about one hundred and fifty gallons 
capacity, and retreated to a place called Windsor Cave, where all of 
the wood and much of the iron-work was done by himself. At last 
one pleasant afternoon or evening in the autumn of 1792 he got into 
his boat, pulled the throttle-valve, and the boat glided out into the bay. 
He was yet fearful that his new-found power might fail him, and so 
sat silent and eager, watching the piston rise and fall and the paddles 
go to and fro. But it did not fail ; the boat went steadily through the 
water, and arrived at Long Wharf in Providence, The next day Mr. 
Ormsbee left in the boat for Pawtucket to show Mr. Wilkinson the 
success which had attended his enterprise. After a day or two the boat 
came back to Providence, where it was received with astonishment. 
For several weeks the boat went up and down the river; Captain John 
H. Ormsbee, then a lad of twelve, going in her as steersman. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 37 

The steam was not applied to elevate and depress the piston, as was 
done by Watt, but applied to raise the piston, and then being condensed 
by cold water, the piston was turned by atmospheric pressure. In this 
way the goose-foot paddles of the boat were moved forward and aft. 
When they moved forward they closed, and when moved aft they 
expanded to a width of from eighteen to twenty-four inches. The 
progress of the boat was from three to four miles an hour, which would 
probably have been increased to five or six if wheels had been sub- 
stituted for paddles. But Ormsbee had no Livingston with open purse 
to assist him, and so, after having demonstrated the possibility of steam 
navigation, his golden dreams faded, and he sorrowfully returned the 
still to the distillery and the boat to its owner. 

When, in 3 817, the " Firefly'^ arrived in Pawtucket, people remem- 
bered the steam long-boat, and said, " We have seen a boat go by steam 
before f and Colonel John S. Eddy a few years since related that when 
fourteen years old he went with his father to Kettle Point and '^ saw 
Mr. Ormsbee in a canoe with a kettle in it raising steam to propel a 
boat." This was in 1794. He did not build it on Kettle Point, but 
went down there to get out of sight of people. He worked first on a 
canoe dug out of a log, and afterwards applied steam to a long-boat. 
He used to talk a great deal when steamboats first came into use about 
Elijah Ormsbee's getting up such a thing a great while before. Mr. 
Henry H. Ormsbee, of Providence, has a statement in the handwriting 
of his father, Captain John H. Ormsbee, in accordance with this state- 
ment, and there is corroborative evidence on record in the files of the 
Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Domestic In- 
dustry. It was stated by Mr. Wilkinson, who took the works after 
the boat was abandoned, that he exhibited and explained them to one 
Daniel French, who in turn made Robert Fulton acquainted with 
them.^ 

1793. — John Smith, in June, 1793, used a steamboat with paddle- 
wheels on the Duke of Bridgewater Canal, from Runcorn to Man- 
chester. The vessel had on her an engine on the old atmospheric 
principle, was worked with a beam, connecting-rod, double cranks, in 
a horizontal line, with seven paddles on each side, which propelled her 
after the rates of two miles an hour.^ 

1794-. — In 1794, Lord Stanhope addressed a letter to Wilberforce 
on the question of peace or war, likely, he thought, to be brought under 
discussion on the meeting of Parliament. In his letter he speculates 
on the possible resources of France, and hints that England is not 
invulnerable. He says, — 

^' This country. Great Britain, is vulnerable in so many ways, the 

^ History of Steam Navigation between Providence and New York, 1792-1877 
by Charles H. Dow. 

^ Nautical Magazine, vol. i., 1832. 



38 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

picture is horrid. By ray letter I will say nothiDg on that subject. 
One instance I will, however, state, because it is information you 
cannot, as yet, receive from any other quarter ; though in two or 
three months from the date of this letter the fact will be fully estab- 
lished, and you may then hear it from others. The thing I allude to 
is of peculiar importance. The fact is this. I know (and in a few 
weeks shall prove) that ships of any size, and for certain reasons the 
larger the better, may be navigated in any narrow or other sea without 
sails (though occasionally with), but so as to go without wind, and 
even directly against both wind and waves. The consequences I draw 
are as follows : First, that all the principal reasons against the French 
having the ports of Ostend, etc., cease, inasmuch as a French fleet 
composed of ships of the above-mentioned description would come out 
at all times from Cherbourg, Dunkirk, etc., as well as from Ostend, 
etc., and appear in the same seas. The water, even at Dunkirk, will 
be amply deep enough for the purpose of having them there. The 
French having Ostend, ought not, therefore, under this new revolution 
in naval affairs, — for it would be a complete revolution, — to be a bar to 
peace. Under the old nautical system, naval men might have reasoned 
differently upon that subject. But the most important consequence 
which I draw from this stupendous fact mentioned at the top of this 
page is this, namely, that it will shortly render all the existing navies of 
the world (/ mean military navies) no better than lumber. For what can 
ships do that are dependent upon the wind and weather against fleets 
wholly independent of either ? Therefore the boasted superiority of 
the English navy is no more. We must have a new one. The French 
and other nations will, for the same reasons, have their new ones.'^ 

This is a curious prediction as to the effect of the introduction of 
steam to navigation upon naval warfare and armaments, written, as the 
EarFs letter was, full thirteen years before Fulton's success with the 
" Clermont" on the Hudson. 

1794.. — William Lyttleton, July 15, 1794, took out a patent in 
England for a screw propeller of three blades, which was to be rotated 
by hand-power or a steam-engine, and experimented with a copper 
screw^ so formed as described by Colonel Beaufry. 

The same year Samuel Morey, of Connecticut, who commenced his 
experiments on the Connecticut River in 1790, propelled his boat by a 
stern wheel from Hartford to New York City, at the rate of five miles 
an hour. Chancellor Livingston, Judge Livingston, Edward Liv- 
ingston, John Stevens, and others, were on board this boat when she 
went from New York to Greenwich. This was the sixth steamboat 
built in the United States. 

The most reliable account of Morey 's experiments and claim to 
having made the first application of steam to navigation, and of having 
made the " first practical steamboat,^' was published in 1864, by the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 39 

Rev. Cyrus Mann, of Orford, New Hampshire. Mr. Mann, an edu- 
cated man, of strict integrity, spent both time and research in the 
investigation of the claims of Fulton, Morey, and others, of a practical 
success in steam navigation. The following is an extract from his 
book : 

^' The credit of the invention of the steamboat is commonly awarded 
to Robert Fulton, but it belongs primarily and chiefly, it is believed, 
to a more obscure individual. So far as is known, the first steamboat 
ever seen on the waters of America was invented by Captain Samuel 
Morey, of Orfojd, New Hampshire. The astonishing sight of this 
man ascending Connecticut River, between Orford and Fairlee, in a 
little boat just large enough to contain himself and the rude ma- 
chinery connected with the steam-boilers and a handful of wood for a 
fire, was witnessed by the writer in his boyhood, and by others who 
yet survive.^ This was as early as 1793 or earlier, and before Fulton's 
name had been mentioned in connection with steam navigation.'' 

The records of the Patent Office at Washington show that several 
patents for the application of steam were taken out by Morey for the 
application of steam " to boats" previous to Fulton's, as Morey's great 
aim had always been to invent a steamboat. 

Captain Samuel Morey, a son of General Israel Morey, who moved 
to Orford from Connecticut in 1766, died in 1843, aged seventy-one 
years. He originally owned fifteen hundred acres of woodland about 
Fairlee Pond, and employed a large number of men and oxen during 
the winter months in clearing the lumber for market, the proceeds of 
which, forty thousand dollars, were consumed in scientific projects. 
He began in 1780 to give attention to subjects of light, heat, and steam, 
and invented several ingenious contrivances. He was a correspondent 
of Professor Si Hi man, and contributed to the pages of the American 
Journal of Science and Arts. He also corresponded with Fulton, and 
visited him twice in New York, and exhibited to him the model of his 
boat, receiving a return visit from Fulton. 

After visiting Morey, Fulton commenced his boat on the Hudson, 
and Morey always held that he surreptitiously imitated his model. In 
1820, Morey put on Fairlee Pond a boat named the '^ Aunt Sally." 
It was twenty feet long, and neatly painted. Some unprincipled 
person sunk it soon after its trial trip, and it now rests beneath the 
waters of the pond. 

Writing to William A. Duer, Esq., October 31, 1818, Morey says, 
*^ As near as I can recollect it was as early as 1790 that I turned my 
attention to improving the steam-engine and in applying it to the 
purpose of propelling boats. ... In June, 1797, I went to Borden- 
town, on the Delaware, and there constructed a steamboat, and devised 

1 Mrs. Nathaniel Mann was on board the steamboat of Morey, and "ordered 



40 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

the plan of propelling by means of wheels, one on each side. The 
shafts ran across the boat with a crank in the middle, worked from the 
beam of the engine with a shackle bar. . . . The boat was openly 
exhibited in Philadelphia. ... I took out patents for my improve- 
ments. ... I never had any doubt but that I had a right to take out 
a patent for the application of two wheels to a steamboat, and often 
told Mr. Livingston and Mr. Fulton that I had. To the latter, I 
once asserted this right when on board his steamboat with him.'^ 
Nothing but want of pecuniary means, as he asserted, seems to have 
been wanting for his inaugurating his methods of propelling boats by 
steam. 

Morey's claim as the inventor of the first successful steamboat must 
give way before the superior claims of Fitch's steamboat already re- 
counted, however. 

Captain Morey continued his scientific pursuits to the time of his 
decease, and they were more or less honored and recognized, but he 
never recovered from the blow received through the alleged perfidy of 
Fulton. 

1796. — The tenth volume of the " Repository of Arts'' contains a 
description of the fire-ship of Edward Thomason, which was laid 
before the Lords of the Admiralty, in England, in 1796. It had 
vertical wheels at the sides, operated on by steam-engines, and was 
intended to possess the power of moving given distances in all direc- 
tions according to the intentions of the director, so that, without any 
person on hoard, it would conduct itself into an enemy's port, and by 
clock-worlc, at the given moment, explode the combustible. This seems 
to have been the pioneer of the modern torpedo-boat, which is moved 
from the shore by electricity. 

The seventh successful steamboat was tried in 1796, in the United 
States, the invention of John Fitch after his return from France. The 
experiment was tried under the patronage of Robert H. Livingston, 
as certified to by John R. Hutchings, General Anthony Lamb, and 
William H. Westlock. It was made with a screw-propeller, the vessel 
used was a yawl, about eighteen feet in length and having six feet 
beam, and steered at the bow with an oar. The boiler was a ten-gal- 
lon iron pot, with a thick plank lid firmly fastened to it by an iron 
bar placed transversely. The cylinders were of wood, barrel-shaped 
on the outside, straight on the inside, and strongly hooped. Steam 
was raised sufficiently high to send the boat once or twice around the 
pond, when more water was needed to generate steam for a new start. 
The time was the summer of 1796, and the scene of the experiment 
was ^' The Colled/^ a fresh-water pond in New York City, near what 
is now called Canal Street. The pond has been drained, and its site, 
covered with houses, is now in the heart of the city. 

1797. — The eighth United States steamboat was built by Samuel 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 41 

Morey, assisted by the Rev. Burgess Allisou, of Bordentown, New- 
Jersey. It was constructed with paddle-wheels at the sides, in the 
same manner as Fulton's steamboat subsequently, and was propelled 
from Bordentown to Philadelphia in the summer of 1797, and publicly 
exhibited. In this year, also. Chancellor Livingston built a boat on 
the Hudson River, and obtained exclusive privilege from the New 
York Legislature for one year, on condition that he produced a vessel 
impelled by steam iJiree miles an hour, but which he was unable to 
effect. He was associated in this enterprise with a person of the name 
of Nisbett, a native of England. Brunei, afterwards distinguished 
as the engineer of the Thames Tunnel, acted as their engineer. 

Morse, in his ^^ Gazetteer,^' published in 1797, under the head of 
Territory, and referring to the Northwest Territory, says that he 
thinks ^' it is probable steamboats will be found of infinite service in all 
our extensive river navigation,'^ 

In 1797 an experiment in canal steam navigation was made in the 
neighborhood of Liverpool, and the Monthly Magazine for July of 
that year says, '' Lately the Newton-Common, in Lancashire, a vessel 
heavily laded with copper slag passed along the Sankey Canal without 
the aid of haulers or rowers, the oars performing eighteen strokes a 
minute by the application of steam only ! After a course of ten miles 
the vessel returned the same evening by the same means to St. Helen's, 
whence she had set out. This ingenious discovery by the original 
form and motion of the oars may be ranked among the most useful oi 
modern inventions, and in particular promises the highest .benefits to 
inland navigation." 

1798. — The next vessel moved by steam, in the United States, was 
a model boat, about three feet long, built by John Fitch, at Bards- 
town, in Kentucky, in the summer of 1798, and tried upon the creek 
near that town. 

The success of the steamboat was assured by the adoption of vertical 
paddle-wheels over the sides, though later inventions have so modified 
the hulls and engines, that the screw placed at the stern has in a 
general measure supplanted the side wheels. 

In 1815, Nicholas J. Roosevelt in a petition to the New Jersey 
Legislature asserts, with the modesty and manly firmness of honesty, 
that " he is the true and original inventor and discoverer of steam- 
boats with vertical wheels." 

In an affadavit attached to his petition he says, — 

^^In or about the year 1781 or 1782" he resided with Joseph Yos- 
tenhandt, about four miles above Esopus, on the North River, in New 
York, and that he did there make, rig, and put in operation on a 
small brook near Yostenhandt's house, "a small wooden model of a 
boat with vertical wheels over the sides," each wheel having four arms 
or paddles made of shingles, and that '^ these wheels being acted on 



42 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

k 
by hickory or whalebone springs propelled the model boat through the 

water by the agency of a tight cord passed between the wheels, and 

being reacted on by the springs/^ 

In 1798, in conjunction with Chancellor Livingston and John 
Stevens, he entered into an agreement to build a boat on joint account, 
for which the engines were to be constructed at Second River by 
Roosevelt, while the propelling power was to be on the plan of the 
chancellor's. 

Steam was applied to the machinery about the middle of the year 
1798 unsuccessfully. Improvements were made in it until in October 
Roosevelt wrote the chancellor an account of a trial trip on which the 
speed attained was equivalent to about three miles in still water, though 
with wind and tide, the Spanish minister, who was on board and highly 
elated, estimated the actual speed at double that amount. 

The month previous to this trial, on the 6th of September, 1798, 
Roosevelt wrote the chancellor in this connection, after referring to a 
change in the plan, a letter in which he says, " I would recommend 
that we throw two wheels of wood over the sides, fastened to the axis 
of the flys [fly-wheels] with eight arms or paddles ; that part which 
enters the water of sheet iron to shift according to the power they 
require either deeper in the water, or otherwise, and that we navigate 
the vessel with these until we can procure an engine of the proper 
size, which I think ought not to be less than 24-inch cylinder." On 
the 16th of the same month he again wrote the chancellor, "I hope to 
hear your opinion of throwing wheels over the sides," and the chancellor 
answers, ^' I say nothing on the subject of wheels over the sides, as I 
am perfectly convinced from variety of experiments of the superiority 
of those we have adopted." 

Their apparatus was a system of paddles, resembling a horizontal 
chain-pump, set in motion by an engine of Watt's construction. We 
know that such a plan, if inferior to paddle-wheels, might answer the 
purpose; it, however, failed, in consequence of the weakness of the 
vessel, which, changing its figure, dislocated the parts of the engine. 
Their joint proceedings were interrupted by the appointment of 
Chancellor Livingston to represent the American government in 
France. Stevens, however, undiscouraged, continued his experiments 
at Hoboken, while Livingston carried to Europe the most sanguine 
expectations of success. Previous to these attempts, Mr. Nicholas R. 
Roosevelt and R. R. Livingston had made some experiments in steam 
navigation, the detailed account of which has not been preserved.^ 

1800. — Messrs. Hunter and Dickinson are said to have taken out 
a patent in England in 1800 for propelling vessels by steam, which 

1 A detailed account of these experiments can be found in a pamphlet entitled 
"A Lost Chapter in the History of the Steamboat," by J. H. B. Lathrop. Pub- 
lished by the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, March, 1871. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 43 

was tried on the Thames^ in January, 1801. The English Monthly 
Magazine contains an account of this performance, ^'as very creditable 
to them, and as exceeding everything before accomplished ;'^ and says 
that '^ the vessel was moved at the rate of three miles an hour through 
the water.^^ 

The newspapers of 1801 announce that on the 1st of July "an 
experiment took place on the river Thames for the purpose of working 
a barge or any other heavy craft against the tide by means of a steam- 
engine on a very simple construction. The moment the engine was 
set to work the barge was brought about, answering her helm quickly, 
and she made way against a strong current, at the rate of two and a 
half miles an hour." 

1800. — Edward Shorter patented a screw-propeller in 1800, which 
was successfully tried by manual power, to move vessels of war, in 
1802. 

Mr. Samuel Brown had a boat built expressly for being propelled 
by a gas vacuum-engine, of which he was the inventor, made to drive 
a two-bladed submerged propeller, in the bow of the boat, by which a 
speed of from six to seven miles an hour was obtained. 



CHAPTER IL— 1800-1819. 

Wm. Symington's Steam-Tug, 1802.— Kobert Fulton's French Experiments, 1802-4. 
— Oliver Evans, 1802-4. — Stevens, 1804. — The Clermont, Fulton's first success- 
ful Steamboat, 1807.— Kobert L. Stevens, 1808.— Jonathan Nichols, 1807-9.— 
Inland Steam Navigation, United States, 1809. — John Cox Stevens's Sea- 
Voyage, 1809.— Eobert Fulton's Patent, 1811.— Eapid Traveling in Steam- 
boats, 1811. — First Steamboat on the "Western Waters of the United States, 
1811. — Fulton's Steamboats, 1812. — Steamboat on the Delaware, 1812. — Steam- 
boats between Philadelphia and New York, 1818. — Hezekiah Bliss, 1810-19. — 
The Comet, and Henry Bell, 1812.— The Elizabeth, 1813.— The Clyde, and 
Glasgow, each 1813. — First Steamboat on the St. Lawrence, 1813.— Kobert 
Fulton's Patent, 1813.— First Steamboat in India, 1810, 1819, 1821.— Early 
English Steamboats, 1813-15. — Loss by Wreck of Steamers in War, 1812-14. — 
The Margery et at., 1814. — The Demologos, or Fulton the First, the First War 
Steamship, 1814. — Steamers in England in 1814. — The Argyle, or Thames, 
1815. — Steam Navigation adopted in Russia, 1815-16. — Trevatheniet's Patents 
on Screw-Propeller in England, 1815. — Roosevelt claims the Invention of 
Paddle- Wheels, 1814-16.— Liverpool Steam Ferry-Boat, 1816.— The Majestic 
first to cross the English Channel, 1816. — First Line of Steamboats, New York 
to New London, 1816. — lona Morgan's Steamboat in Maine, 1816. — First 
Steamboat commanded by Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1817. — First Steam Tow- 
Boat, 1816.— The Firefly, 1817.— First Steamboat on the Rhine, 1817.— The 
Manifest of First Steamboat to Boston, 1817. — First Steamboat on Lake Erie, 
1818.— Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat, 1813-15.— The first English 
Ste^m-Tug, 1818. — Steamers between the Mersey and Clyde, 1819. — First 
Steamer, Liverpool and Ireland, 1819. 

1802. — In 1802, William Symington, who had been associated 
with Millar and Taylor in the experiments at Dalswinton, under the 
patronage of Lord Dundas, of Kerse, an extensive proprietor in the 
Forth and Clyde Canal, constructed a steam-vessel for the purpose of 
superseding the use of horses in towing vessels along the canal. His 
narrative of the experiment, the truthfulness of which has been con- 
firmed by others, is as follows : 

" Having previously made various experiments, in March, 1802, at 
Lock Twenty-two, Lord Dundas, the great patron and steamboat pro- 
moter, along with Archibald Spiers, Esq., of Elderslee, and several 
gentlemen of their acquaintances being on board, the steamboat took 
in drag two loaded vessels, the ^ Active' and ' Euphemia,' of Grange- 
mouth, Gow and Elspine, masters, each upwards of seventy tons burden, 
and with great ease carried them through the long reach of the Forth 
and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas, a distance of nineteen and a half 
miles, in six hours, although the whole time it blew a very strong 
breeze right ahead of us ; so much that no other vessel could move to 
windward in the canal that day but those we had in tow." 
44 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 45 

When unimpeded by having other boats in tow, this vessel went 
steadily at the rate of six miles an hour, and may be considered to 
have been a complete success. Her cylinder had a diameter of twenty- 
two inches, and her piston a stroke of four feet. She had her paddle- 
wheel astern, and steering apparatus in front. Mr. Symington pro- 
posed to apply side-wheels to this boat, but it was feared they would 
injure the banks of the canal, and he was induced to substitute a stern- 
wheel. 

The " Charlotte Dundas," as this vessel was called, is said to have 
cost three thousand pounds. If not the first practical English steam- 
boat, she was certainly the first tug- or tow-boat ever built, and her 
performance, says Scott Russell, writing in 1841, ^^ appears to be about 
as great as any since accomplished by the many boats which on the 
same canal have attempted the same duty. So simple was the ma- 
chinery that it might have been at work to this day with merely ordi- 
nary repairs.'^ ^ 

1802. — Robert Fulton, with whose name the history of steam navi- 
gation is inseparably connected, the son of a poor Irish laborer who 
emigrated to America, born in Pennsylvania in 1765, was in 1802 
spending the winter at Paris, where he made a model, and wrote a 
description of a small steamboat with paddle-wheels. He also wrote 
the following letter to a friend, showing he was at that early day 
engaged in the attempt to move vessels by mechanical power. 

" Paeis, the 20th of September, 1802. 
"To Mr. Fulner Skipwith: 

" Sir, — The expense of a patent in France is 300 livres for three j^ears, 800 ditto 
for ten years, and 1500 ditto for fifteen years ; there can. be no difficulty in obtaining 
a patent for the mode of propelling a boat which you have shown me ; but if the 
author of the model wishes to be assured of the merits of his invention before he 
goes to the expense of a patent, I advise him to make the model of a boat in which 
he can place a clock spring which will give about eight revolutions ; he can then 
combine the movements so as to try oars, paddles, and the leaves which he proposes ; 
if he finds that the leaves drive the boat a greater distance in the same time than 
either oars or paddles, they consequently are a better application of power. About 
eight years ago the Earl of Stanhope tried an experiment on similar leaves in 
Greenland Dock, London, but without success. I have also tried experiments on 
similar leaves, wheels, oars, paddles, and flyers similar to those of a smoke-jack, 
and found oars to be the best. The velocity with which a boat moves is in pro- 
portion as the sum of the surfaces of the oars, paddles, leaves, or other machine is 
to the bow cff the boat presented to the water, and in proportion to the power with 
which such machinery is put in motion ; hence, if the sum of the surfaces of the 
oars is equal to the sum of the surfaces of the leaves, and they pass through similar 
curves in the same time, the effect must be the same ; but oars have their advantage, 
they return through air to make a second stroke, and hence create very little resist- 
ance ; whereas the leaves return through water, and add considerably to the resist- 
ance, which resistance is increased as the velocity of the boat is augmented : no kind 
of machinery can create power ; all that can be done is to apply the manual or 

^ The machinery of this boat was exhibited at an exhibition in London a few 
years since. 



46 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

other power to the best advantage. If the author of the model is fond of mechanics, 
he will be much amused, and not lose his time, by trying the experiments in the 
manner I propose, and this perhaps is the most prudent measure, before a patent is 
taken. 

" I am, Sir, with much respect, yours, 

"Egbert Fulton." 



1803. — About the same time, in connection with Chancellor Living- 
ston, then the American minister at the French court, he commenced 
the construction of an experimental steamboat on a large scale, which 
was launched in the spring of 1803, on the Seine, below Paris, and 
the steam-engine and boilers put on board. He had, however, mis- 
calculated the strength of his vessel, and when the weight of the 
machinery was placed in the centre she broke through the middle and 
sunk, and when raised was found to be unworthy of repairs. He 
therefore built a new hull to receive the machinery, which was but 
little injured, and in August, 1804, made a second trial. This new 
vessel was sixty-six feet long and eight feet wide ; but she moved so 
slowly as to be altogether a failure. Soon after the experiment, Fulton 
visited England, where he sought out Mr. Symington, and made a trip 
with him in his steam-tug on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Mr. 
Symington says, " In compliance with Mr. Fulton's earnest request, I 
caused the engine fire to be lighted up, and in a short time thereafter 
put the steamboat in motion, and carried him from Lock Sixteen, 
where the boat then lay, four miles west in the canal, and returned to 
the place of starting, in one hour and twenty minutes, to the great 
astonishment of Mr. Fulton and several gentlemen, who at our outset 
chanced to come on board.'' 

An act passed the Legislature of New York, April 5, 1803, by 
which the rights and exclusive privilege of navigating all the waters 
of that State, by vessels propelled by fire or steam, which had been 
granted to Livingston in 1798, were extended to Livingston and Ful- 
ton for twenty years from the date of the new act. By this act the 
producing proof of the practicability of propelling a boat by steam, 
of twenty tons capacity, at the rate of four miles an hour, with and 
against the ordinary current of the Hudson, was extended two years. 
Subsequently it was extended to April, 1807. 

Fulton's experiments on the Seine in 1800-4, and his relations 
with Napoleon I., are thus graphically narrated by Mr. A. Ducasse. 
He says, — 

^'Between six and eight o'clock on the 8th of August, 1804, the 
two banks of the Seine, at Paris, at the foot of the heights of the 
^ Pompe a Feu' at Chaillot, were crowded with curious observers col- 
lected together to witness an experiment, the importance of which, 
unfortunately for the civilized world, was not recognized for a long 
time afterwards. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 47 

" Fulton was trying on the Seine the first steamboat, already in- 
vented by him some years before, and subsequently offered in vain first 
to France, then to England, and subsequently to his native country, 
the United States, which adopted the grand discovery. 

" On that evening, then, vast numbers of curious gazers were as- 
sembled on the quay, and unfortunately the emperor, detained at the 
camp of Boulogne, was not in Paris. The trial took place without 
being witnessed by him, and, in spite of the scientific men delegated 
by his orders, this was not appreciated. 

" A strange history is that of the short-lived relations of these two 
men of genius. Napoleon I. and Fulton, made to understand one 
another, and yet whom a fatal and jealous destiny seems to have per- 
petually kept apart. 

'' Towards the end of the year 1800, Fulton, then for some time 
residing in Paris, had been able to establish relations with several 
savans. He asked Volney, who was known to the First Consul, and 
who was a member of the Conservative Senate, to propose to the great 
man who governed France to make a trial of his system of navigation 
with steam as a motive-power. 

" Volney naturally addressed himself to Forfait, the Ministre de 
la Marine, who laid the matter before the First Consul in the following 
terms : 

" * The Ministre de la Marine submits to the First Consul the pro- 
posals concerning the " Nautilus,'' — the name of Fulton's steamboat, — 
which Mr. Robert Fulton, citizen of the United States, has placed before 
him, through the citizen Volney, member of the Conservative Senate.' 

"On the 4th of December, 1800, the First Consul wrote on the 
margin of this demand the following decision : 

" ' The Ministre will treat this affair with Fulton, Volney, and 
others.' 

'^ Napoleon, occupied with the affairs of Germany, whither Moreau 
was then marching to fight the battle of Hohenlinden, occupied with 
the vast interests placed in his powerful and organizing hands, un- 
ceasingly tormented with projects and inventions, did not at first seize 
the importance of Fulton's discovery. Moreover, he thought it was 
the business of the Ministre de la Marine to examine the affair, and to 
make a report upon it to him if it were serious. 

" For the present, then, he thought no more about it. 

"In the month of March of 1801, Forfait returned to the charge 
and submitted to the Chief of the State the following : 

" ' The Ministre de la Marine proposes to allow Fulton a sum of 
10,000f. to enable him to make a thorough trial of the " Nautilus" at 
Brest, and to give him certain sums by way of reward.' 

"Napoleon wrote on the margin of this demand, ^ The 'First Con- 
sul agrees to this arrangement.' 



48 BIS TOBY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

" Fulton's project was then^ by order of the Chief of State, sent to 
the institute to be examined. But it was not till three years later, in 
1804, that the trial of the steamboat took place on the Seine, as we 
shall presently show. 

" This boat, built under the direction of Fulton, by Messrs. Brown, 
of New York, was fifty metres long ; it was moved by a double steam- 
engine, which turned paddles on each side, and gave it a speed equal 
to about that of a carriage drawn by post-horses. 

" One fine day Napoleon bethought him of Fulton's project. It 
was at the time when he was in the midst of his troops at Boulogne, 
preparing his grand expedition against England. 

" With his gaze constantly fixed on the great rival of France, he 
sought every means likely to insure the success of his descent upon the 
bank of the Thames. The plan of the American engineer recurred to 
him. Great indeed would be the chances of success if Fulton had 
really discovered the means of moving ships by means of steam, — a 
power the use of which might be regulated and controlled in spite of 
tides and winds. What a Avondrous and unequaled victory obtained 
over the elements ! 

" Napoleon then asked his minister for Fulton's project. The 
minister sent it, and on the 21st of July, 1804, the First Consul, two 
months ago hailed as emperor, wrote the following curious letter : 

" ' I have just read the project of Citizen Fulton, engineer, which 
you have sent me much too late, since it is one which may change the 
face of the world. Be that as it may, I desire that you " immediately" 
confide its examination to a commission of members chosen by you 
among the different classes of the Institute. 

" ^ There it is that learned Europe would seek for judges to resolve 
the question under consideration. A great truth, a physical, palpable 
truth, is before my eyes. It will be for these gentlemen to try and 
see it and seize it. As soon as their report is made it will be sent to 
you, and you will forward it to me. Try and let the whole be ter- 
minated within eight days, as I am impatient. 

" 'From my Imperial Camp at Boulogne, this 21st July, 1804.' 

" In the last two months the Parisians had seen with astonishment, 
off the quay of the Pompe a Feu, at Chaillot, a boat presenting a most 
strange appearance. It was armed, said the journals of the time, with 
two large wheels, placed on an axle like that of a cart. Behind these 
wheels, which were intended to be put in motion, — so ran the journals 
of 1804, — there was a sort of large stove with a pipe, a little fire- 
engine by means of which the wheels, and consequently the whole 
vessel, might be put in motion, turned, and made to go backward or 
forward. 

" Some evil-minded persons had attempted, shortly after its arrival 



HISTORY OF 8TEAM NAVIGATION. 49 

in the Seine, to sink it, and they had partially succeeded in their at- 
tempt. The relations of the period do not tell us who these persons 
were or what were their motives. 

" When Fulton had repaired the injuries done the ship, the first 
trial of a steamboat in France, as has already been mentioned, took 
place on the Seine on the 8th of August, 1804. Fulton, assisted by 
three other men, put his boat in motion, taking in tow two vessels of 
less tonnage. 

"During an hour and a half he afforded a curious crowd the 
strange spectacle of a ship moved, like a carriage, by wheels fitted with 
oars and set in motion by a fire-engine. The trial succeeded wonder- 
fully, and appeared conclusive. 

" The rate of progress up the Seine was from five to six kilometres 
per hour ; in going down it was double. 

" The ship was easily manoeuvred in every direction, answered 
readily to the helm, was anchored without difficulty, and rapidly put 
again in motion. No well-broken horse was more easy to manage. 

"At the present time all this excites no astonishment, but sixty 
years ago, when navigation was only comprehended by means of sails 
or oars, the wonder we have described was natural. 

" What is really surprising is that the results of this trial were so 
unimportant; above all, when we remember that the emperor had 
ordered a serious examination of the discovery by the members of the 
Institute, and that several of them, among whom were such men as 
Bossout, Carnot, Prony, Perrier, and Volney, were on board the 
^ Nautilus' when the trial trip was made. 

"And yet, four days afterwardvS, on the 12th of August, the Jour- 
nal des Debats received an article communicated by the government 
on the subject of this trial, which terminates thus : 

" ' Doubtless they (the members of the Institute) will make a report 
which will give this discovery all the eclat it deserves, since this mech- 
anism, applied to our rivers, would be fraught with the most advan- 
tageous results to our internal navigation,' etc. 

" Thus it appears that the system was not considered applicable to 
maritime navigation, and thus Messieurs de PInstitute — ocular wit- 
nesses of a fact the consequences of which they were able to appreciate, 
and of which they had been ordered to find out the value and to ex- 
plain the causes — thought it was consistent with their dignity to reject 
scornfully the most wonderful discovery that had ever been submitted 
to their lofty understanding. 

" For the rest, this is no exception to the general rule. Have we 
not seen in our own time distinguished soldiers reject percussion pow- 
der for muskets? Do we not even now see breech-loaders rejected for 
the army ? and has it not required the campaign of Sadowa to open 
the eyes of most of the chiefs of the armies of Europe ? 



50 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

" Be this as it may, the reports on Fulton's discovery were far from 
favorable. Scientific men rejected it. The emperor is said to have 
sighed on reading their report, exclaiming, * It is a pity !' 

^* What must have been the regret of the great captain when, eleven 
years later, while being borne into exile on board the ^ Bellerophon,' 
under the English flag, he saw a small steamer manoeuvring with 
facility in British waters, and, on inquiring who was the inventor, was 
told that his name was Fulton !'' 

1803. — M. Dalleney, a French engineer, in October, 1803, secured 
a patent, the first of its kind, for an original idea of his own for apply- 
ing the steam-engine to two screws, one of which was placed on the 
bow on a movable axis, and served as a rudder. 

At Boulogne-sur-Mer, on Monday, October 12, 1881, was unveiled 
a statue of Frederic Sauvage, whom the French claim to be the in- 
ventor of the screw-propeller. A Scotchman named Swan, born at 
Coldingham, Berwickshire, in the year 1787, who claimed to be the 
original inventor of the screw-propeller, died in London in 1869, and 
a monument in Abney Park Cemetery there bears the following in- 
scription : " Few men have been greater benefactors to their country 
than the late John Swan. He was the original inventor of the screw- 
propeller in the year 1824, as now used in Her Majesty's ships, and 
published by the late Dr. Birkbeck in the Mechanic's Register of the 
same date." 

180^-4^. — In 1802, Oliver Evans agreed with James McKeever, of 
Kentucky (father of the late Commodore Isaac McKeever, United 
States navy), and Louis Valcourt, to build a boat to run on the Missis- 
sippi between New Orleans and Natchez. Mr. Evans's high-pressure 
engine was built in Philadelphia, and the boat in Kentucky ; both 
were sent to New Orleans, but when the engine arrived at New Orleans 
it was found that the boat had been destroyed by a hurricane. The 
engine was then set to sawing timber in New Orleans, and Mr. Stack- 
house (one of the engineers), who remained with it twelve months and 
fifteen days, stated that during that period the mill was constantly at 
work, and that " nothing relating to the engine broke or got out of 
order so as to stop the mill one hour." This was the engine sent by 
Oliver Evans to drive a steamboat against the current of the Missis- 
sippi five years before Kobert Fulton started the " Clermont" on the 
Hudson. 

In 1804, Oliver Evans built a scow-steamboat at Philadelphia, for 
the purpose of clearing out the docks, which he called the " Eruktor 
Amphibolis." 

To prove that wagons could be moved on land and vessels moved 
on water by the force of steam, Evans geared machinery to the wagon 
upon which the " Eruktor" was placed, and propelled his wagon by 
steam from the Centre Square, Philadelphia, to the Schuylkill Kiver, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 51 

at Market Street. The wagon-wheels were then taken off, the scow 
launched, and a paddle-wheel placed at its stern. It was then pro- 
pelled down the Schuylkill to the Delaware, and up the latter river to 
Philadelphia, a distance of sixteen miles, passing several vessels bound 
to the same port. 

Mr. Evans has left the following account of this experiment : 

" In 1804 I constructed at my works, a mile and a half from the 
water, by order of the Board of Health of the City of Philadelphia, 
a machine for cleaning docks. It consisted of a large flat or lighter, 
with steam-engine of the power of five horses on board to work ma- 
chinery to raise the mud into lighters. This was a fine opportunity to 
show the public that my engine could propel both laud and water car- 
riages, and I resolved to do it. When the work was finished I put 
wheels under it, and though it was equal in weight to two hundred 
barrels of flour, and the wheels were fixed on wooden axle-trees for 
this temporary purpose in a very rough manner, and attended with 
great friction of course, yet with this small engine I transported my 
great burden to the Schuylkill with ease ; and when it was launched 
into the water I fixed a paddle-wheel at the stern, and drove it down 
the Schuylkill to the Delaware, and up the Delaware to the city ; leaving 
all the vessels going up behind me at least half-way, the wind being 
ahead.'^ 

On the 26th of September, 1804, he closed an address to the Lan- 
caster Turnpike Company as follows : 

"It is too much for an individual to put in operation every im- 
provement which he may invent. I have no doubt my engines will 
propel boats against the current of the Mississippi, and carriages on 
turnpike roads with great profit.'^ 

In 1805 he published a work describing the principle of his steam- 
engine, with directions for working it when applied to propel boats 
against the current of the Mississippi, and carriages on turnpike 
roads. 

1804^. — III ^lay, 1804, John Stevens^ constructed a steamboat 
which went from Hoboken to New York and returned ; its propelling 
power being a wheel at the stern, formed in the manner of a wind- 
mill or smoke-jack, and driven by a rotatory engine. 

The engine not proving successful, it was superseded by one of 

1 Colonel John Stevens, born in New York, 1749. Died at Hoboken, New 
Jersey, 1838. Colonel Stevens was the father of Edwin A. Stevens, founder of the 
Stevens Institute of Technology. During the war of the Revolution he served in 
a variety of civil and military capacities, and afterwards became the owner of large 
estates in New Jersey. 

In 1787 he became interested in steamboats, from seeing that of John Fitch, 
and experimented for near thirty years. In 1789 he petitioned the New York 
Legislature for a grant of the exclusive navigation of the waters of that State, but 
without success. 



52 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Watt's engines, when the vessel attained an average speed of four 
miles an hour. For a short distance Stevens could make his boat go 
at a speed of seven or eight miles per hour ; but was unable to maintain 
that speed for any length of time from a deficiency of steam. 

Professor Renwick read a paper several years since before the New 
York Historical Society, in which he stated that the first he ever heard 
of an attempt to use steam for the propulsion of vessels was from a 
classmate who, in 1803, witnessed an experiment made upon the Passaic 
River by John Stevens, of Hoboken. According to his account, the 
propulsion was attempted by forcing water, by means of a pump, from 
an aperture in the stern of the vessel. In May, 1804, Mr. Renwick 
saw Robert L. Stevens and the late Commodore Stevens, as he was 
styled, cross from the Battery to Hoboken in a boat propelled by steam. 
This boat was a small one, and had tubular boilers, the first ever made. 
The machinery was made under his own directions, and in his own 
shop at Hoboken. It set in motion two propellers (the first double- 
screw) of five feet diameter each, and each furnished with four blades 
having the proper twist, — to obtain which he had the greatest difficulty 
with his workmen, — and set at an angle of thirty-five degrees. It is 
a proof of the remarkable accuracy and skill of the Hoboken work- 
shop that the engine of this first small propeller, which is carefully 
preserved in the Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, was set 
up again forty years afterwards (1844) in a new vessel, which was 
modeled on the lines of the first boat, and without altering a screw 
was worked successfully, and in the presence of a commi|tee from the 
American Institute was propelled at the rate of eight miles an hour. 
The second vessel is also preserved in the Stevens Institute at Hoboken. 
Three years before Robert Fulton's steamer, the " Clermont,'' plowed 
its way up the Hudson, this engine and boiler, in the hands of Colonel 
John Stevens, had demonstrated the efficiency of the screw-propeller. 

1806. — Encouraged by the success of his former experiments, 
Colonel Stevens repeated them in 1806 on a larger scale, and built a 
pirogue fifty feet long, twelve feet wide, and seven feet deep, which 
attained considerable speed. He nauied her the ^^ Phoenix." 

THE ^^ CLERMONT." 

1807.— In the spring of 1807 Robert Fulton launched from the 
building-yard of Charles Brown, on the East Hudson, a. steam- vessel, 
one hundred and thirty feet long, having eighteen feet beam and six 
feet hold, which he named the '' Clermont," after the residence of his 
friend, patron, and associate. Chancellor Livingston. The " Clermont" 
was provided with a single engine, built by Boulton & Watt, in 
England, which lay for many months on the wharf at New York, 
near where the city prison now stands, between Canal Street and the 
Battery, being held by the agent of the ship which brought it over for 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 53 

non-payment of freight. This engine was twenty-four inches diameter 
of cylinder, and three feet stroke. The boiler was of the low-pressure 
pattern, twenty feet long, seven feet deep, and eight feet broad. The 
side-wheels were fifteen feet in diameter, with buckets four feet wide, 
dipping two feet in the water. The " Clermout"i started on her first 
trip from New York for Albany, at 1 p.m., on the 7th of August, 1807, 
just three years to a day after Fulton's experiments with the " Nautilus" 
on the Seine. 

Robert Fulton, with a few friends and mechanics and six passen- 
gers, was on board. An incredulous and jeering crowd were gathered 
on the shore as she cast loose. She arrived at Clermont, a distance of 
one hundred and ten miles, on Tuesday at the same hour. Leaving 
Clermont on Wednesday, at 9 a.m., she arrived at Albany at 5 p.m. 
the same day, a distance of forty miles, in eight hours. " The run,'' 
says Fulton, ^' is one hundred and fifty miles in thirty-two hours, — 
nearly equal to five miles an hour. She kept up the same rate of speed 
on her return trip to New York, and made several trips during the 
summer with like results." ^ 

Professor Ren wick, describing the " Clermont" as she appeared on 
her first trip, says, " She was very unlike any of her successors, and 
very dissimilar from the shape in which she appeared a few months 
afterwards. With a model resembling a Long Island skiff, she was 
decked for a short distance at stem and stern. The engine was open to 
view, and from the engine aft a house like that of a canal-boat was 
raised to cover the boiler and the apartment for the oflScers. There were 

1 Marcus Eichardson, of Bangor, the oldest Mason in Maine, who died in that 
city January 7, 1881, aged one hundred and six years and two months, witnessed 
this trial trip of the "Clermont." He was a privateersman in the war of 1812, 
and was a Mason seventy-seven years. 

In August, 1882, Geo. Dexter, aged eighty-four years, of Albany, and Wm. 
Perry, of Exeter, New Hampshire, aged ninety years, who were passengers in the 
" Clermont" on her return trip from Albany to New York, were still living. 

At the time of the great triumph, Peter Cooper was an apprentice boy, Thurlow 
Weed was a cabin-boy on a Hudson River sloop, and Charles O'Connor a prattling 
child of three years. This year (1882) a movement has been set on foot to erect a 
suitable monument to the memory of the great inventor, whose ashes lie neglected 
in an obscure vault at the southwest corner of Trinity Church. 

The name of the chief engineer of the " Clermont" on her first trip up-river 
has not been preserved ; but Mr. Fulton, having had some difficulty with him, pro- 
moted Mr. Charles Dyck to his place on the return trip. Mr. Dyck was born in 
1787 and died in 1871. While at Albany, a gentleman, Mr. Dyck said, came on 
board and engaged passage to New York. Mr. Fulton, on receiving his money, 
shed tears, remarking that it was the first he had received for all his labor. 

In 1813, Mr. Dyck was engineer on the " Car of Neptune," from New York 
to Albany, and also on the "Firefly," from New York to Poughkeepsie. He was 
on the first steamer on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ; also on the first steamboat 
on the Fulton Ferry Line, and from New York to New Brunswick on the Phila- 
delphia Line with Captain Vanderbilt. For five years before his death he was 
blind. 



54 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

DO wheel-guards. The rudder was of the shape used in sailiDg-vessels 
and moved by a tiller. The boiler was of the form then used in Watt's 
engines, and was set in masonry. The condenser was of the size used 
habitually in land engines, and stood, as was the practice in them, in a 
large cold-water cistern. The weight of the masonry and the great 
capacity of the cold-water cistern diminished very materially the buoy- 
ancy of the vessel. The rudder had so little power that she could 
hardly be managed. The skippers of the river craft, who at once saw 
that their business was doomed, took advantage of the unwieldiness of 
the vessel to run foul of her as often as they thought they had the law 
on their side. Thus in several instances the steamer reached one or the 
other termini of the route with but a single wheel." 

Before the season closed, the wheels were surrounded by a frame of 
strong beams and the paddles were covered in ; the rudder was changed 
to the pattern now used on all river boats and was worked by a wheel, 
the ropes from which were attached to the ends most distant from the 
pintles. This rudder rendered the vessel manageable, and the beams 
placed around the wheel were capable of inflicting instead of receiving 
harm in a collision with sailing-vessels. 

During the winter of 1807-8 she was almost wholly rebuilt. The 
hull was considerably lengthened, and covered from stem to stern with 
a flush deck. Beneath this two cabins were formed, and surrounded 
by double ranges of berths, fitted up in a manner then unexampled for 
comfort, and the public taste was consulted in the application of numer- 
ous coats of rather gaudy paint. Thus improved, she commenced her 
trips for the season of 1808, and started regularly at the appointed 
hour, at first much to the discontent of travelers, who had previously 
been waited for by sloops and stages. At the end of the season she 
proved too small for the crowds who thronged to take passage. 

The success of the " Clermont'' led Fulton and Livingston to build 
two other vessels and add them to the line, viz., ^' The Car of Neptune" 
and the ^'Paragon," of three hundred and three hundred and fifty tons 
respectively. Fulton sent the following account of the first trip of the 
" Clermont" to the American Citizen : 

" Sir, — I arrived this afternoon at four o'clock in the steamboat from Albany. 
As the success of my experiment gives me great hopes that such boats may be 
rendered of great importance to my country, to prevent erroneous opinions and to 
derive some satisfaction to the friends of useful improvements, you will have the 
goodness to publish the following statement of facts : 

" I left New York on Monday at one o'clock, and arrived at Clermont, the 
seat of Chancellor Livingston, at one; time, twenty-four hours; distance, one 
hundred and ten miles. On Wednesday I left the Chancellor's at nine in the 
morning, and arrived at Albany at five in the afternoon ; distance, forty miles ; 
time, eight hours. 

" The run is one hundred and fifty miles in thirty-two hours, — equal to nearly 
five miles an hour. On Thursday, at nine o'clock in the morning, I left Albany, 
and arrived at the Chancellor's at six in the evening. I started from thence at 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 55 

seven, and arrived at IS'ew York at four in the afternoon ; time, thirty hours ; 
space run through, one hundred and fifty miles, — equal to five miles an hour. 
Throughout my whole way, both going and returning, the wind was ahead. No 
advantage could he derived from my sail. The whole has therefore been performed 
by the power of the steam-engine, etc. 

"Egbert Fultox." 



Fulton also wrote to a friend, '^ I overtook many sloops and 
schooners beating to windward^ and parted with them as if they had 
been at anchor. The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully 
proved. The morning I left New York there were not thirty persons 
who believed that the boat would ever move one mile an hour or be of 
the least utility ; and while we were passing oflp from the wharf, which 
was crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic remarks. 
This is the way in which ignorant men compliment what they call 
philosophers and projectors. Although the prospect of personal emolu- 
ment has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleas- 
ure in reflecting on the immense advantages my country will derive 
from the invention.^' 

The British Naval Chronicle for 1808 has an extract from a letter 
written by a gentleman of South Carolina, one of the favored few 
who were passengers on board the '' Clermont" on her first trip. Under 
•date September 8, 1807, he says, '^I have now the pleasure to state to 
you the particulars of a late excursion to Albany in the steamboat 
made and completed under the directions of the Hon. Robert R. Liv- 
ingston and Mr. Fulton, together with my remarks thereon. On the 
morning of the 19th of August, Edward P. Livingston, Esq., and 
myself were honored with an invitation from the Chancellor and Mr. 
Fulton to proceed with them to Albany in trying the first experiment 
up the river Hudson in the steamboat. She was then lying off Cler- 
mont, the seat of the Chancellor, where she had arrived in twenty-four 
hours from New York, being one hundred and ten miles. Precisely at 
thirteen minutes past nine o'clock a.m. the engine was put in motion, 
when we made head against the ebb-tide, and head wind blowing a 
pleasant breeze. We continued our course for about eight miles, when 
we took the flood, the wind still ahead. We arrived at Albany about 
5 P.M., being a distance from Clermont of forty-five miles (as agreed 
upon by those best acquainted with the river), which was performed in 
eight hours without any accident or interruption whatever. This de- 
cidedly gave the boat upwards of five miles an hour, the tide sometimes 
against us, neither sails nor any other implement but steam used. 

^* The next morning we left Albany with several passengers on the 
return to New York, the tide in favor but the wind ahead. We left 
Albany at twenty-five minutes past nine o'clock a.m., and arrived at 
Clermont in nine hours precisely, which gave us five miles an hour. 
The current on returning was stronger than when going up. After 



56 HI8T0RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

landing us at Clermont, Mr. Fulton proceeded with the passengers to 
New York. The excursion to Albany was very pleasant, and repre- 
sented a most interesting spectacle. As we passed the farms on the 
borders of the river every eye was intent, and from village to village 
the heights and conspicuous places were occupied by sentinels of curi- 
osity, — not Viewing a thing they could possibly anticipate any idea of, 
but conjecturing about the plausibility of the motion. As we passed 
and repassed the towns of Athens and Hudson, we were politely saluted 
by the inhabitants and several vessels, and at Albany we were visited by 
his excellency the governor and many citizens. Boats must be very cau- 
tious how they attempt to board her when under way, as several acci- 
dents had nearly happened when boarding her. To board ahead will 
endanger a boat being crushed by the wheels, and no boat can board 
astern. The diflPerence between the wake of ^ Neptune's Chariot' and 
that of a common water-carriage is very materially open for observa- 
tion, as when you approach the first you will be told by anticipation 
to pay respect to a lady in the ^ Chariot,' as you will be readily notified 
by the expansion of a fan, which forms the dimensions of her wake, 
but moving with great impetuosity from the warm repulsion. It is a 
curious fan ; it only spreads by an aquatic latchet, being sprung by the 
kicking of the horses. I may now venture to multiply and give you 
the sum-total. The boat is one hundred and forty-six feet in length 
and twelve feet in width (merely an experimental thing), draws to the 
depth of her wheels two feet of water, one hundred feet deck for ex- 
ercise, free of rigging or any incumbrances. She is unquestionably the 
most pleasant boat I ever went in. In her the mind is free from sus- 
pense. Perpetual motion authorizes you to calculate on a certain time 
to land; her works move with all the facility of a clock, and the noise 
when on board is not greater than that of a vessel sailing with a good 
breeze." 

The Philadelphia Times published in 1878 a chat with a survivor 
of the party on board the " Clermont" on her return trip. This gen- 
tleman, the Rev. Frederick Reynolds Freeman, a Baptist clergyman of 
Illinois, was then on a visit to Philadelphia. He was carried in his 
mother's arms at the time, being but two years old. His personal 
remembrance, of course, does not amount to much, but he has, said 
the Times, a store of information concerning the trip not in the posses- 
sion of anybody else, for as soon as he was old enough to realize the im- 
portance of the occasion, he sought with more assiduity than a person 
less directly interested would for all the facts concerning it. 

His father, Elisha Freeman, before retiring to a farm, had been a 
sea-captain, and for that reason was invited, with a small number of 
other persons, including municipal officials of Albany, to go on board 
the " Clermont" upon its arrival. Captain Freeman went, taking 
with him his wife and little son, Freddy. " The event is like a dream 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 57 

to me/^ says Mr. Freeman. " Probably my memory would now 
be unable to reach it but for the constant rehearsals of the scenes and 
incidents made to me in my youth. 

" When Columbus walked the streets in Spain meditating upon his 
project, which had become generally known, men and small boys would 
point their fingers at their foreheads and exchange smiles. Just so 
Robert Fulton was treated before he turned the laugh upon a country 
of scoffers. 

^' The first steam-packet was trim and handsome enough, excepting 
the boilers, machinery, and smoke-stack, which were rude, cumbrous, 
and of extremely formidable appearance. 

"The side-wheel was a clumsy affair, uncovered and with twelve 
huge paddles, held in their place by a ring half-way between their ex- 
tremities and the hub, that sent water splashing upon the deck with, 
every revolution. The top of the smoke-stack was about thirty feet 
above the deck, — nearly as high as the two masts, from the rear one of 
which floated the Stars and Stripes. Hours before she started a great 
multitude had assembled along the wharves to witness the expected in- 
glorious ending of what was generally known as ^ Fulton's folly.' 
Cries of ^ God help you, Bobby !' ^ Bring us back a chip of tlie North 
Pole !' ^ A fool and his money are soon parted !' etc., were frequent, 
loud and annoying. Fulton, however, knew the crowd were sincere 
in their ridicule, and with a confident smile went on superintending 
preparations for the start, as if he knew that triumph would presently 
more than overbalance the sneers, jibes, and cat-calls of the vulgar and 
the pitying manners of the more refined. Smoke issues from the stack ; 
the hawser is drawn in ; the side- wheel quivers ; it slowly revolves ; 
Fulton's own hand at the helm turns out the bow ; he is pale, but still 
confident and self-possessed ; the ^ Clermont' moves out into the stream, 
the ponderous machinery thumping and groaning, the wheel franti- 
cally splashing, and the stack belching like a volcano ; the ^ Clermont' 
steadily moves ; all aboard swing their hats into the air and give a 
cheer that is immediately taken up by the entire multitude on land ; 
the crowd remain cheering on the piers until the ^ Clermont' is out of 
sight up the Hudson." 

Mr. Freeman says that the boat arrived at Albany thirty-six hours 
after starting from New York. It had not been continually in motion, 
the party having stopped at the residence of Chancellor Livingston on 
the way up. The speed was at the rate of five miles an hour. The 
appearance of the strange vessel as she steamed up the river had a 
remarkable effect, even in daytime, upon the crews of craft passing by, 
for comparatively few of the skippers coming down could, in those 
days of slow mail and no telegraph, have been prepared to encounter 
such an oddity ; but at night the '' Clermont" spread consternation and 
terror on all sides. It was very dark, and the fires were fed with dry 

5 



58 HISTORY OF STEAM. NAVIGATION. 

white-pine wood, which when stirred would send up columns of flame 
and sparks from the mouth of the tall stack. This apparent volcano, 
moving steadily through the darkness up the middle of the river, and 
accompanied by the rumbling and groaning of the hard-laboring ma- 
chinery, was well calculated to strike terror into the hearts of sailors 
on the sloops and other craft coming down with grain and general farm 
produce, who had never heard of any motive-power for vessels except 
wind, and who, withal, were extremely superstitions. 

" My father and others told me,^^ says Mr. Freeman, ^^ that whole 
crews prostrated themselves upon their knees and besought Divine 
Providence to protect them from the horrible monster that was march- 
ing on the tides and lighting up its pathway by its fires.'^ 

When the members of the Freeman family went aboard the " Cler- 
mont,'^ upon its arrival at Albany, Mrs. Freeman observed a workman 
emerging from the engine-room — a place very suggestive to her of the 
infernal regions — carrying in his hands a ladle filled with molten lead. 
With this he proceeded to stop up holes whose presence here and there 
in the rude machinery was indicated by escaping steam. Captain Free- 
man then learned that the workman had been busily employed doing 
the same thing ever since the " Clermont" had left New York. The 
people of Albany had been apprised of the arrival in advance, and the 
whole town turned out to receive Fulton and his steamboat, giving 
them an enthusiastic reception. 

The " Clermont'' had not been long under way on its first trial 
when Fulton ordered the engine stopped. Having observed that the 
paddle-floats were too deeply immersed in the water, he shifted them 
nearer to the centre of the paddle, so that they did not enter so deeply 
into the water ; and this alteration had the effect of increasing the 
speed of the vessel.^ 

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette in 1880 says, — 
^' Fulton's first successful boat was called, not the ^ Clermont,' but 
the ^Katharine of Clermont,' after Fulton's wife, Katharine Livingston, 
of Clermont Manor. I read the name so painted, having been a pas- 
senger on the first regular trip made by her down the Hudson. As 
there are few survivors of that notable event, which occurred in Aprils 

1 David Dunham, whose eccentricities and enterprise were alike celebrated, the 
principal owner of the celebrated privateer " General Armstrong," was one of the 
foremost patrons of Robert Fulton in his experiments with steam navigation, and 
advanced large sums to further his projects. An accident prevented him from being 
the first to apply steam to ocean transit. He was knocked overboard or fell from 
the deck of one of his own vessels. "When his body was recovered, among the 
papers in his pocket was a contract with the government for carrying the mails 
between this country and Great Britain, giving specifications as to the fleet of 
steamers he proposed to establish. Soon after his demise his eldest son emigrated 
to the South and established a plantation in Florida. His lineal grandsons entered 
the Confederate army. 

Fulton died in London, England, February 24, 1815. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 59 

1808, an account of it may gratify your readers. I was a student at 
Union College, Schenectady, and arrived at Albany in charge of a 
maiden lady of mature years. The river was then navigated by sloops, 
and on reaching Albany there was no vessel in port. The lady accord- 
ingly went to a friend's house, while I took up my quarters at a tavern. 
During the night the ' Katharine' arrived from Kinderhook, a few 
miles down the river. She had made her trial trip the previous fall,^ 
being then a mere skeleton. The winter was spent in fitting her up. 
She was about the size and shape of an ordinary canal-boat, painted a 
light color, and provided with a small upright engine. She was adver- 
tised to leave for New York at nine o'clock on the morning after her 
arrival. I at once determined to take passage. My fair charge, with 
the proverbial dilatoriness of her sex, was slow in getting ready, and 
when we reached the wharf the steamer was out in the stream. She 
stopped, however, in response to the signal made by ourselves and the 
other persons gathered on the bank, and we went out to her in a skiff. 
There did not seem to be much excitement in Albany, but at Hudson, 
where the engineer showed the capacity of the craft by turning her 
about and steaming a little way up the river, a great crowd was gathered. 
There were about fifty passengers on board, quite a large proportion 
being boys and young men. I was to land at Kingston, seventy-five 
miles below Albany. Before reaching that place the boat ran aground, 
and it took twelve hours of hard work to get her afloat again. Fulton 
was on board. He was plainly dressed, and wore a boot on one foot 
and a shoe on the other. He appeared buried in thought and spoke 
to no one. Shortly after the boat left Kingston, where I quitted 
her, her boiler burst, but, as it was a sheet-iron affair, no one was 
hurt. She was taken to New York for repairs, where I saw her 
about a week later, having made the remainder of my voyage in a 
sailing-vessel.'' 

1808. — '^ It is a little curious," says Scott Kussell, " that, although 
Fulton was the first in America, and Bell in Europe, to successfully 
avail themselves of the advantage of steam applied to navigation, it 
was in both cases non longo intervello distanti. Fulton was first in the 
race only a few days, and Bell by a few months." 

" Robert L. Stevens is probably the man to whom, of all others, 
America owes the greatest share of its present highly-inaproved steam 
navigation. His father was associated with Livingston in his experi- 
ments previous to the connection of the latter with Fulton, and per- 
severed in his experiments during Livingston's absence in France. 
Undisputedly he is the pioneer of steam navigation on the open 
sea." 

At the age of twenty he built a steamboat with concave water-lines 

1 Her trial trip was made August 7, 1807, as already shown. 



60 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATIOK 

— the first application of the wave-line to ship-building — and adopted 
a new method of bracing and fastening steamboats. 

In conjunction with his father, John Stevens, the inventor, in 1807, 
he constructed a paddle-wheel steamer, which was in motion on the 
Hudson only a few days later than Fulton's first successful voyage. 
He called her the " Phoenix.'^ Precluded by the monopoly which 
Fulton's success had obtained for him in the waters of New York, Mr. 
Stevens first employed the ^^ Phoenix" as a passage boat between New 
York and New Brunswick, and finally conceived the bold idea of 
carrying her under steam around Cape May to the Delaware, and so to 
Philadelphia, — a voyage which was successfully accomplished in June, 
1809, he going in command of the boat. A storm overtook them ; a 
schooner in company was driven to sea and absent many days, but the 
^' Phcenix" made a harbor at Barnegat until the storm abated, and then 
continued her voyage to Philadelphia, where she plied for many years 
between that city and Trenton.^ She was commanded by Captain 
DeGraw. Robert L. Stevens was her temporary engineer, and she 
was placed on the Delaware River for the purpose of carrying the 
New York passengers. She ran from Philadelphia to Bordentown, 
and made the passage thence, in 1812, in three hours when running 
with the tide, and in five hours against ^t. The boat had no wheel- 
house, and sometimes when in motion the water would be thrown as 
high as her smoke-stack. She belonged to what w^as called the Swift- 
sure Line, and attracted much interest. Her hour of departure was 
announced by the blowing of a long tin horn, and hundreds of persons 
would crown the wharves to see her embark on her voyage. Passengers 
on this boat were landed in New York in 1812 some time during the 
following night if no accident occurred. 

About 1816, Robert L. Stevens commenced steam ferriage between 
New York and the Jersey shore; in 1818 he discovered the utility of 
employing steam expansively and using anthracite coal for fuel in 
steamers; in 1821 he substituted the skeleton wrought-iron for the 
heavy cast-iron walking-beam; and in 1824 applied an artificial blast 
to the boiler-furnace, and in 1827 the hog-frame to boats to prevent 
them from bending at the centre. In 1842 he was commissioned by 
the United States government to build an immense steam-battery for 
the defense of New York harbor, which was left unfinished at the 
time of his death, April 20, 1856.^ 

1 The first English experiment in deep-sea navigation by steam was made by 
James Watt, ten years later, from Leith to London, in 1818. 

2 It was relinquished by the United States government, in 1862 or 1863, after 
a large sum of money had been expended upon its construction, and was willed by 
Mr. Stevens to the State of New Jersey, with an annual sum of money towards its 
completion. It has never been launched, the improvement in naval armament 
having rendered it useless for the purposes intended, and recently has been sold at 
auction by the State of New Jersey. The purchaser will probably break the vessel 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 



61 



1807-9. — A screw vessel was constructed at Providence, in 1807 to 
1809, by Jonathan Nichols, a blacksmith, a native of Vermont, and 
David Griere, a tailor, from Nantucket ; she was forty feet long, and 
was worked by four horses. A small model boat had been before 
successfully worked. On June 24, 1807-8 or 1809, this craft conveyed 
to Pawtuxet a happy couple to be married in that place, and a party to 
attend a Masonic gathering. The trip to Pawtuxet was made in two 
hours, but on the return the vessel, being destitute of a keel, drifted 
ashore in a thunder-squall, but was not much injured. A Boston 
mechanic afterwards bought her at a sheriff^s sale, but while being 
towed to Boston by a sloop he was obliged to cut loose from her, and 
she went ashore and was totally lost in Buzzard^s Bay. 

1809. — '' Stean:i^^^ says the Gentleman^s Magazine for December, 
1809, under the head of America, ^' has been applied in America to 
the purpose of inland navigation with the greatest success. The pas- 
sage boat between New York and Albany is one hundred and sixty 
feet long, and wide in proportion for accommodations, consisting of 
fifty-two berths, besides sofas, etc., for one hundred passengers ; and 
the machine which moves her wheels is equal to the power of twenty- 
four horses, and is kept in motion by steam from a copper boiler eight 
or ten feet in length. Her route is a distance of one hundred and 
fifty miles, which she performs regularly twice a week, and sometimes 
in the short space of thirty-two hours." 

Mr. Longstreet, of Augusta, Georgia,^ is said this year to have 
invented a steamboat, on principles entirely different from any that had 
been constructed, for navigating the rivers of the Southern States. 

This steamer was fifteen feet long by four broad, with a cylinder 
of four inches. It carried eight persons, and went at a uniform rate 
of six miles an hour. 

STEAMBOATS ON THE HUDSON. 

1806. — Prior to the practical working of any steamboat in Europe, 
Mr. Charles Brown had built for Fulton the following vessels : 



Name. 


When 
built. 

Tonnage. 


3 


1 


P 





o 

00. 


How employed. 


Clermont 

Raritan 


1806 i 160 

1807 1 120 
1807 i 295 

1811 331 

1812 i 118 
1812 118 


Feet. 
133 


Feet. 
18 


Feet. 

7 


Inch. 
24 


Feet. 
4 


On the Hudson River. 
On the Raritan River. 


Car of Neptune .... 

Paragon 

Jersey Ferry-Boat . . . 
Firefly 


175 

178 

78 

100 


24 
27 
39 
19 


8 
9 

7 
7 


33 
32 
20 
20 


4.4 
4 
4 
3.9 


On the Hudson River. 
On the Hudson River, 
By the Ferry Company. 
From New York to 




Newburgh. 



up and utilize its material and engines. Some account of this vessel will be given 
farther on. 

1 See notice of him under heading, 1790. 



62 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The following advertisement is from the New York Evening Post 
of June, 1813, five years after the advent of the ^^ Clermont/^ with a 
copy of a cut of the steamboat at its head : 

"HUDSON EIYER STEAMBOATS. 

"for the information of the public. 

" The Paragon, Capt, Wiswell, will leave New York every Satur- 
day afternoon at five o'clock. The Car of Neptune, Capt. Roorbach, 
do, every Tuesday afternoon at five o'clock. The North River^ Capt. 
Bartholomew, every Thursday afternoon at five o'clock. 

" The Paragon will leave Albany every Thursday morning at nine 
o'clock. 

" The Car of Neptune, do, every Saturday morning at nine o'clock. 
The North River, do, every Tuesday morning at nine o'clock. 



" From New York to Yerplanck's Point, $2 ; West Point, $2.50 ; 
Newburgh, $3; Wappingers Creek, $3.25; Poughkeepsie, $3.50; 
Hyde Park, $4 ; Esopus, $4.25 ; Catskill, $5 ; Hudson, $5 ; Coxsachie, 
$5.50; Kinderhook, $5.75 ; Albany, $7. 

"From Albany to Kinderhook, $1.50; Coxsachie, $2; Hudson, 
$2 ; Catskills, $2.25 ; Ked Hook, $2.75 ; Esopus, $3 ; Hyde Park, 
$3.25; Poughkeepsie, $3.50; Wappingers Creek, $4; Newburgh, 
$4.25 ; West Point, $4.75 ; Verplanck's Point, $5.25 ; New York, $7. 

" All other way passengers to pay at the rate of one dollar for every 
twenty miles. No one can be taken on board and put on shore, how- 
ever short the distance, for less than one dollar. 

" Young persons from two to ten years of age to pay half price. 
Children under two years one-fourth price. Servants who use a berth 
two-thirds price ; half price if none." 

In 1816, eight steamers had been built to run on the Hudson ; be- 
sides the four above named were the " Hope," " Perseverance," " E,ich- 
mond," and " Olive Branch," and the " Clermont," having been en- 
larged, was renamed the " North River." 

In 1816, the " Chancellor Livingston," named for his friend and 
patron, was constructed under the superintendence of Robert Fulton in 
New York, to run on the Hudson, and was the largest boat that had 
been built in that city, being of four hundred and ninety-six tons, — 
one hundred and twenty-five tons larger than any of her predecessors 
on that river. She was not launched until after his death, and may 

1 The '* North Eiver" was the " Clermont," which had been lengthened. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 63 

therefore be considered the crowning effort of his life. Her keel was one 
hundred and fifty-four feet long, decks one hundred and sixty-five feet, 
beam thirty-two feet, draught of water seven feet three inches, principal 
cabin fifty-four feet long, ladies's cabin, above the other, thirty-six feet 
long, with closets, forward cabin thirty feet long and seven feet high, 
permanent sleeping-berths in principal cabin thirty-eight, in ladies' cabin 
twenty-four, forward cabin fifty-six, in captain's cabin on deck eight, 
engineer's and pilot's three, forecastle six, cook's six ; total, one hundred 
and thirty-five. Her original engine was of seventy-five horse-power, 
diameter of cylinder forty inches, length five feet, length of piston-rod 
eight feet six inches, stroke five ^e^t, boiler twenty-eight feet long and 
twelve feet broad, with two funnels, paddle-wheels seventeen feet in 
diameter, paddle-boards five feet ten inches long. She had two fly- 
wheels, each fourteen feet in diameter, connected by pinions to the 
crank-wheel. The machinery rose four feet above the deck. Her 
average speed was eight and a half miles per hour; with strong wind 
and tide in her favor she made twelve miles ; with the same against 
her, not more than six. This was as she was originally; after- 
wards she was lengthened, and with a larger engine her speed was 
increased. 

In 1832 she was bought by Mr. C. Vanderbilt and Amos H. Cross, 
of Portland, and put on the route between Boston and Portland, as an 
opposition boat. At that time she had in her third engine, which was 
what is called a square or cross-head engine. Working-beams had not 
then come into use. This engine had a fifty-six-inch cylinder and six- 
feet stroke. She had three smoke-stacks athwartships, and three masts, 
a bowsprit and jib-boom, with yards and topsails on the foremast. In 
1834 the '^ Chancellor Livingston" was broken up in Portland, and her 
engines placed in a new boat named the " Portland," which was launched 
June, 1835. 

The " Portland" was chartered to the United States government 
during the Mexican War, and finally lost somewhere, about 1848, on 
the gulf coast of Mexico, between Tampico and Matamoras. Captain 
J. B. Coyle, then the engineer of the " Portland," is credited with hav- 
ing invented a blower by which he was able to use anthracite coal on 
board the ''Portland, in 1835, and she was the first steamer that burnt 
anthracite coal with success. Small blower-engines were soon after 
adopted in New York.^ 

The following table of the dimensions of nine steamers which were 
running on the Hudson prior to 1838, compared with the table of the 
pioneer steamers on that river in 1812, will show the rapid develop- 
ment of steam propulsion in a little over a quarter of a century from 
its introduction. 

^ Captain Covle is now the president of the Portland Steam Packet Company, 
and we may say was the originator of that successful enterprise. 



64 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 





M 


a 




t 


i 


1 


B 


J 




6 


® a 












a. 


1 


i 


'S 


O 
02 


Ph 




Name. 


"S 


^ 




o 




C|H 


"^ 






o 


s«^ 




5 




bD 


a 

o3 


.C3 


O 


1 

a 




Pi • 




^1^ 


























h^ 


pq 


Q 


P 


H^ 


ft 


^ 


ft 


yA 


^ 


Ch 




Ft. 


Ft. 


Ft. 


Ft. 


Ft. 


In. 




In. 


Ft. 






De Witt Clinton . . 


230 


28 


5.5 


21 


13.7 


36 


1 


65 


10 


29 


1 


Champlain 


180 


27 


5.5 


22 


15 


34 


2 


44 


10 


27.5 


J 


Erie 


180 


27 


5.5 


22 


15 


34 


2 


44 


10 


27.5 


1 


North America . . 


200 


30 


5 


21 


13 


30 


2 


44.5 


8 


24 


1 


Independence . . . 


148 


26 ^ 




. . 








44 


10 


. . 




Albany 


212 


26 




24.5 


14 


30 




65 


' 


19 




Swallow 


233 


22.5 


3.75 


24 


11 


30 




46 




27 




TJtica 


200 


21 


3.5 


22 


9.5 


24 




39 


10 






Kochester 


200 


25 


3.75 


23.5 


10 


24 




43 


10 


28 





Again, the following table gives the dimensions of ten steamers, 
recently built, plying on the Hudson and collateral waters in 1854, 
not quite half a century after the advent of Fulton's experimental 
steamboat, the " Clermont/' 





Dimensions of Vessel. 


Engines. 


Paddle-Wheel. 


Name. 






2 

o 








<« 














<-< 


6 


(DTS 


<=G) 






ot 






,s^ 








% a 


^^4 


^M 




^M 


Z.-^ 






i 




c 


II 




sec 


a 








y^ 


w 


ft 


E^ 


ft 


^ 


^ 


ft 


yA 


ft 




Ft. 


Ft. In. 


Ft. In. 




In. 


Ft. 




Ft. In. 


Ft. In. 


In. 


Isaac Newton . . 


333 


40 4 


10 


, 


81 


12 


18J 


39 


12 4 


32 


Bay State .... 


300 


39 


13 2 


, 


76 


12 


2U 


38 


10 3 


32 


Empire State . . 


304 


39 


13 6 




76 


12 


2U 


38 


10 3 


32 


Oregon 


375 


35 




1000 


72 


11 


18 


34 


11 


28 


Hendrick Hudson 


320 


35 


9 6 


1050 


72 


11 


22 


33 


11 


33 


C. Yanderbilt . . 


300 


35 


11 


1075 


72 


12 


21 


35 


9 


33 


Connecticut . . . 


300 


37 


11 




72 


13 


21 


35 


11 6 


36 


Commodore . . . 


280 


33 


10 6 




65 


11 


22 


31 6 


9 


33 


New World . . . 


376 


35 


10 6 




76 


15 


18 


44 6 


12 


36 


Alida. . . . . . 


286 


28 


9 6 


• • 


56 


12 


24J 


32 


10 


32 



The new and largest class of steamers on the Hudson are capable 
of running from twenty to twenty-five miles an hour, and make on an 
average eighteen miles an hour. These remarkable speeds are obtained 
usually by rendering the boilers capable of carrying steam up to fifty 
pounds pressure above the atmosphere, and by urging the fires with 
fans worked by an independent engine. This extreme of speed is also 
obtained at a disproportionate increased consumption of fuel. 

Up to 1836 steamboats in the United States had burned wood only. 
The ^' Novel ty^^ burnt forty cords on each trip from Albany to New 
York, and the same on her northern trip. Experiments were made 
with coal for fuel with success, but wood was principally used for 
several years after. 



HI8T0RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, Qb 

" To obtain an adequate notion of the form and structure of one of 
the first-class steamboats on the Hudson/^ says Doctor Lardner in his 
^^ Museum of Science and Art/^ ^^ let it be supposed that a boat is con- 
structed similar in form to a Thames wherry, but above three hundred 
feet long and twenty-five to thirty feet wide. Upon this let a plat- 
form of carpentry be laid, projecting several feet upon either side of the 
boat, and at the stem and stern. The appearance to the eye will then 
be that of an immense raft, from two hundred and fifty to three 
hundred an(J fifty feet long and some thirty or forty feet wide. Upon 
this flooring let us imagine an oblong rectangular wooden erection, 
two stories high, to be raised. In the lower part of the boat, and 
under the flooring, a long, narrow room is constructed, having a series 
of berths at either side, three or four tiers high. In the centre of this 
flooring usually, but not always, is inclosed an oblong, rectangular 
space, within which the steam machinery is placed, and this inclosed 
space is continued upward through the structures raised in the plat- 
form, and is intersected at a certain height above the platform by the 
shaft or axle of the paddle-wheel. 

"These wheels are propelled generally by a single engine, but 
occasionally by two. The paddle-wheels are of great diameter, varying 
from thirty to forty feet, according to the magnitude of the boats. In 
the wooden building raised upon the platform already mentioned is a 
magnificent saloon, devoted to the ladies and those gentlemen who 
accompany them. Over this, in the upper story, is constructed a row 
of small bedrooms (state-rooms), each handsomely furnished, which 
passengers can have who desire seclusion by paying a small additional 
fare. The lower apartment is commonly used as a dining- and break- 
fast-room. 

" In some boats the wheels are propelled by two engines, which are 
placed on the platform which overhangs the boat at either side, each 
wheel being propelled by an independent engine ; the wheels in this 
case acting independently of each other and without a common shaft or 
axle. This leaves this entire space in the boat, from stem to stern, 
free of machinery. It is impossible to describe the magnificent coup 
d/oeil which is presented by the immense apparent length when the 
communication between them is thrown open. Some of these boats 
are upwards of three hundred feet long, and the uninterrupted length 
of the saloons corresponds with this. 

" This arrangement of machinery is attended with some practical 
advantages, one of which is a facility of turning, as the wheels, acting 
independently of each other, may be driven in opposite directions, one 
propelling forward and the other backward, so that the boat may be 
made to turn on its centre. Although from the great width of the 
Hudson no great difficulty is encountered in turning the longest boat, 
yet cases occur in which this power of revolution is found extremely 



66 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

advantageous. Another advantage of this system is that if one of the 
two engines becomes accidentally disabled, the boat can be propelled 
by the other. 

" No spectacle can be more remarkable than that which the Hudson 
presents for several miles above New York. The skill with which 
these enormous vessels, measuring from three to four hundred feet in 
length, are made to thread their way through the crowd of shipping 
of every description moving over the face of this spacious river, and 
the rare occurrence of accidents, is truly admirable. In ^ark nights 
these boats run at the top of their speed through fleets of sailing- 
vessels. The bells,'' through which the steersman speaks to the engineer, 
scarcely ever cease. Of these bells there are several different tones, 
indicating the different operations which the engineer is commanded to 
make, such as stopping, starting, reversing, slackening, accelerating, 
etc. At the slightest tap of one of these bells the enormous engines 
are stopped, or started, or reversed, by the engineer, as though they 
were the playthings of a child. These vessels, proceeding at sixteen 
and eighteen miles an hour, are propelled among the crowded shipping 
with so much skill as almost to graze the sides, sterns, or bows of the 
vessels among which they pass/' 

This graphic description was written in 1854, twenty-eight years 
ago, but conveys a good general description of the boats now running 
upon the river, electric bells and electric lights being among the later 
improvements, and the cabins and saloons perhaps being more sumptu- 
ously upholstered. 

'' No spectacle,'' adds Doctor Lardner, '' can be more remarkable 
than a large steam tow-boat dragging its enormous load up the Hudson. 
They may be seen in the middle of this vast stream surrounded by a 
cluster of twenty or thirty loaded craft of various magnitudes. Three 
or four tiers are lashed to each side, and as many more at the bow and 
at the stern. The steamer is almost lost to the eye in the midst of 
this crowd of vessels which cling around it, and the moving mass is 
seen to proceed up the river, no apparent agent of propulsion being 
visible. As this water goods train, for so it may be called, ascends the 
Hudson, it drops off its load vessel by vessel at the towns which it 
passes. One or two are left at Newburgh, another at Poughkeepsie, two 
or three more at Hudson, one or two at Fishkill, and in fine the tug 
arrives with a residuum of some half a dozen vessels at Albany." ^ 

STEAMBOATS ON THE DELAWARE. 

1809. — The seventh vessel which was propelled by steam upon the 
Delaware arrived in Philadelphia, from Hoboken, New Jersey, in 
June, 1809. This steamboat was called the " Phoenix," and was the 
same built by John Cox Stevens, at Hoboken, in 1806, and intended 

1 The Museum of Science and Arts, edited by Doctor Lardner, vol. ii., J854. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 67 

as a passeDger-boat between New Brunswick and New York. Bat 
Fulton and Livingston having obtained from the State of Ne^ York 
an assignment or transfer of the rights of John Fitch under the law 
of March 19, 1786, securing to Fitch a monopoly in the nature of a 
patent for all boats and vessels navigated by fire and steam^ Colonel 
Stevens found that employment of his boat in the waters of New 
York was restricted so much that it could not be made profitable. He 
therefore formed the design of sending the vessel to Philadelphia, as 
an assistant to the line of packets and stages upon the line to New 
York. This was a bold and hazardous experiment. The ocean had 
never been navigated by steam, and the power of the engines being 
limited, the danger from storms seemed very great. But Robert L. 
Stevens, son of John Cox Stevens, the inventor, determined to risk 
the trial, and accordingly with a small crew he left New York. A 
fierce storm overtook them. A schooner in company was driven off 
to sea, and was kept out several days. The ^^ Phoenix" made a harbor 
at Barnegat. After the storm subsided, Stevens succeeded in bringing 
the boat around into the Delaware, and thus earned the distinction of 
having been the first man who ever navigated the ocean by steam. 
The first trip on the Delaware was made between Philadelphia and 
Trenton, July 5, 1809, there being nearly forty passengers on board. 
The ^^ Phoenix" had " twenty-five commodious berths in her cabin and 
twelve in her steerage, wdth other ample accommodations for passen- 
gers." She was constructed with masts, so as to be able to take 
advantage of favorable winds and thereby add to the facility of her pas- 
sages, and at the same time effect a saving in that important article, fuel. 

After the ^' Phoenix,^^ the next steamboat that ran up the Dela- 
ware was named the " Philadelphia." It was put on by the Union 
Line, and w^as commanded by Captain Jenkins. She ran from Phila- 
delphia to Bristol, and afterwards established a wharf about three miles 
above, called " Van Hart's." Passengers thence took stages for New 
Brunswick and to New York in the ^' William Gibbons." For some 
reason this boat always went by the name of ^' Old Sal," probably 
from a grotesque-looking female figure-head on her bow. 

The next steamboat was die '^ Pennsylvania," and carried passen- 
gers for the Citizens' Line. The engine of this boat was subsequently 
placed in the old " Lehigh." Passengers by this line landed at Bor- 
dentown, and thence took coaches to Washington, New Jersey, where 
they were conveyed to New York on the steamer ^^ ^tna," Captain 
Robinson. The following is one of the advertisements of this boat, 
dated March 23, 1818 : 

"THE STEAMBOAT ^TNA 

'^ Leaves the upper side of Market Street daily, at 6 o'clock (after 
to-morrow), for Bordentown, touching up and down at Burlington, 



68 HISTORY OP STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

Bristol, and White Hill. Passengers for New York, via Bristol, will 
be conveyed thro' by sunset of same day, and by way of Bordentown, 
by noon next day." 

The following advertisement is from The True American and Com- 
mercial Advertiser, Philadelphia, Wednesday, June 4, 1817 : 

" PHILADELPHIA AND BALTIMORE LINE OF STEAM- 
BOATS AND STAGES, 

(Cut of steamboat.) 

" By way of Wilmington and Elkton every Monday, Wednesday, and 
Friday. 

"The new steamboat Superior, Capt. Wm. Milnor, will leave the 
first wharf above Market St., Phila., at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on 
the aforesaid days for Baltimore. 

" The steamboat New Jersey, Capt. Rogers, will leave Light St. 
wharf for Phila. in the afternoon of the same days. These boats are 
connected by a line of stages on the new turnpike between Wilmington 
and Elkton. 

" N.B. — The Superior will leave Phila. every day for Wilmington 
(Sundays excepted) at three in the afternoon, and Wilmington every 
morning for Philadelphia at seven o'clock. 

" Passengers rec'd and deliv'ed at Chester and Marcus Hook." 

"THE STEAMBOAT BRISTOL 

(For Burlington and Bristol.) 

"Leaves the first wharf above Market St. every day at three o'clk. 
in the afternoon, taking passengers for New York by the way of Bris- 
tol, Trenton, Brunswick, and Elizabethtown ; also by the way of 
South Amboy. On her return to Philada. she leaves Bristol at half- 
past seven and Burlington at eight o'clock every morning (Sundays 
excepted)." 

Another advertisement in 1818 announces 

"THE STEAMBOAT BRISTOL, OF BURLINGTON, 

"Has commenced running for the season, leaving Bristol daily at half- 
past seven a.m. ; Burlington at eight a.m. (and in returning), Philadel- 
phia at three P.M. 

"N.B. — A Coach leaves Bristol for Trenton every day, imme- 
diately upon the arrival of this boat, and in the morning leaves Tren- 
ton in time for the passengers to proceed in her to Philadelphia. Fare 
to Trenton, $1.25." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 69 

And still another informs us that 

'^THE PHILADELPHIA & KEW YORK LINE 

" Of steamboats, via Trenton and I^ew Brunswick, connected by new 
carriages. 26 Miles by land. Fare, $4.50 through. Deck passengers, 
§3.50 through. 

" Passengers leave the south side of Market Street wharf, in the 
Steamboat PHILADELPHIA, for Trenton, every day at 11 o'clock, 
lodge in New Brunswick, and arrive in New York in the Steamboat 
OLIVE BRANCH, the next day at 10 o'clock a.m. On her return 
the Philadelphia will leave Trenton at 6 o'clock a.m., and arrive at 
10 A.M. 

'^ The Hull and Engine of the Philadelphia have been thoroughly 
repaired. She will work under a very low pressure of steam, and will 
be managed by a careful and experienced Engineer." 

The '^-^tna'^ exploded her boiler in New York harbor in 1824, 
having on board the Philadelphia passengers, and several lives were lost. 
Her place on the line was supplied by the steamboat ^^ New York." 

The Union Line then built the " New Philadelphia," to compete 
with the ^' New York," of the Citizens' Line, and then the " Trenton" 
came out to run against the " Pennsylvania," of the Citizens' Line. 
This line then built a new float, and named it the " Philadelphia," to 
beat the " Trenton." 

There was a wonderful competition among these lines for several 
years, when Captain Whilldin and Cornelius Vanderbilt started an 
opposition to them all. This was called the Dispatch Line, and the 
fare at one time was reduced to one dollar. The boat on this end was 
named the " Emerald." The Dispatch Line w^as soon disposed of, and 
the Union and the Citizens', with some of the others, afterwards be- 
came merged in the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company. The 
next boat was the ^^ John Stevens," built at Hoboken in 1846, and 
destroyed by fire at Bordentown on the night of the 16th of July, 
1855. The next was the '^Richard Stockton," which ran between 
South Amboy and New York. 

1810-19.— Ky. Hezekiah Bliss, who died at Brooklyn in 1876, 
made the acquaintance of Robert Fulton in 1810, then in the height 
of his fame as the pioneer of steamship navigation. Young Bliss was 
a frequent visitor at Fulton's home, and in his later years often spoke 
of the instruction that Fulton gave him. With his brain full of 
steamboats, young Bliss came to Philadelphia in the fall of 1811, and 
in the following spring associated himself with Daniel French in the 
organization of a company to build a steamboat. They constructed a 
boat about sixty feet long by twelve feet wide, with. an oscillating 
engine and stern wheel, which he judged the best adapted to avoid the 



70 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

drift-wood that had proved a serious impediment to navigation in 
Western waters. The boat was for some time employed on a ferry 
between Philadelphia and William Cooper's landing. 

In 1816, Mr. Bliss went to Cincinnati, and there in the following 
year he engaged, with the eldest son of General William H. Harrison, 
in the construction of steamboats. They built one, which they named 
" General Pike," in honor of General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, the 
father-in-law of young Harrison. It was one hundred feet long by 
twenty-five wide, and was the first boat ever built in Cincinnati, and 
the sixth on Western waters. The boat was first run in 1819. 

Returning to New York in 1827, Mr. Bliss considered a flattering 
proposition to go to Mexico as an agenf of the Barings of London, 
and soon afterwards, with Dr. Eliphalet Nott, formerly president of 
Union College, he engaged, in 1827-28, in experiments in steam navi- 
gation. In 1851 he established the since widely-known Novelty Works, 
with the view of constructing ocean steamers. — Philadelphia Press, 

STEAM FERRY-BOATS IN NEW YORK HARBOR — 1810-14. 

In 1810 arrangements were made with Robert Fulton to construct 
steam ferry-boats, and on the 2d of July, 1812, one named the "Jer- 
sey" was put in operation between Paulus Hook, Jersey City, and New 
York. The event was celebrated with a grand banquet given by the 
Jersey men to the New York Common Council. A correspondent to a 
newspaper of the times says, — 

" 1 crossed the North River yesterday in the steamboat with my 
family in my carriage, without alighting therefrom, in fourteen min- 
utes, with an immense crowd of passengers. On both shores were 
thousands of people viewing the pleasant object. I cannot express to 
you how much the public mind appeared to be gratified at finding so' 
large and so safe a machine going so well.'' 

This " large machine'' was eighty feet long and thirty feet wide. 

A year later the ^' York" was put on with the " Jersey." They 
were supposed to run every half-hour from sunrise until sunset, but 
frequently an hour was consumed in making a trip. Fulton's descrip- 
tion of one of the boats is as follows : 

" She is built of two boats, each ten feet beam, eighty feet long, 
and five feet deep in the hold ; which boats are distant from each other 
ten feet, confined by strong transverse beam-knees and diagonal traces, 
forming a deck thirty feet wide and eighty long. The propelling 
water-wheel is placed between the boats to prevent it from injury from 
ice and shocks on entering or approaching the dock. The whole of 
the machinery being placed between the two boats, leaves ten feet on 
the deck of each boat for carriages, horses, and cattle, etc. ; the other, 
having neat benches and covered with an awning, is for passengers, 
and there is also a passage- and stair- way to a neat cabin, which is fifty 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 71 

feet long aod five feet clear from the floor to the beams, furnished with 
benches, and provided with a stove in w^inter. Although the two 
boats and space between them give thirty feet beam, yet they present 
sharp bows to the water, and have only the resistance in the water of 
one boat of twenty feet beam. Both ends being alike, and each having 
a rudder, she never puts about." 

The Legislature of New York passed an act March 4, 1814, allow- 
ing William Cutting and others to run a steam ferry with passengers 
at four cents each between Brooklyn and New York. The first trips 
were made in the beginning of May, 1814, and the name of the boat 
was the "Nassau." The Columbian, a newspaper of that time, con- 
tained an account of the new ferry, and stated that on one of the first 
trips of the " Nassau," from the Beekman slip to the lower ferry in 
Brooklyn, there were five hundred and forty-nine passengers, one wagon 
and a pair of horses, two horses and chaise, and one single horse. 
The trip occupied from four to eight minutes, and forty crossings were 
made every day. 

The veteran artist Banvard, in an interview with a reporter, Decem- 
ber, 1881, says, " I crossed this Fulton Ferry from Fair, now Fulton, 
Street on this first steam ferry-boat. At that time the boilers were 
placed on deck, and Fulton Street was a country road with old farm- 
houses on either side." 

Surmounted by a picture of the steamboat, an, advertisement of the 
ferry company of 1814 reads : 

^^NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN FERRY. 

^'Such persons as are inclined to compound agreeable to law, in the 
Steam Ferry Boat, Barges, or common Horse boats, will be pleased to 
apply to the subscribers, who are authorized to settle the same. 

"GEORGE HICKS, Brooklyn. 

"JOHN PINTARD, 52 Wall St. 

" Commutation for a single person not transferable for 12 months $10 00 
do do 8 months 6 67 

"May 3, 1814. 6 m." 

Fulton and Cottins^ formed a company, " The New York and 
Brooklyn Steamboat Ferry Association," with a capital of sixty -eight 
thousand dollars, in sixty shares, valued at one thousand three hundred 
and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents each. The first steam- 
boat of this company was the "Nassau," and the Long Island Star of 
May 14, 1814, mentions her ^?^s^ trip. The boat must have been 
adapted for the work, as it is stated, " Her trips varied from five to 
twelve minutes ; carriages and wagons, however crowded, pass on and 
off the l)()at with the same facility as in passing a bridge." 

Some time after the steamboat, supplementary scows were run by 



72 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

horses. The scows had double hulls, and with the paddle in the 
middle, eight horses supplied the power. 

In 1817 the advantages of the steamboat were so manifest that the 
public were clamorous for a second boat, which, according to the agree- 
ment, was to be placed on the route by May 1, 1819. The company 
demurred on the ground of expense, and alleged that team-boats were 
more easily navigated and much safer in winter than steamboats. 
They offered to substitute the horse for the steam on the boat, and to 
run it until 8 p.m. The New York authorities, with reluctance and 
in order to avoid legislative interference, agreed, and the price was 
raised to four cents for both team- and steamboats. In 1833, David 
Leavitt and Silas Butler, having bought forty-four of the sixty shares 
of the Fulton Ferry stock, obtained control of the ferry and put on 
two new boats. 

Mr. Banvard has recorded his reminiscences of the old horse ferry- 
boat from E^ew York to Brooklyn in verse : 

" How well I remember the horse-boat that paddled 
'Cross the East Eiver ere the advent of steam ; 
Sometimes the old driver the horses would straddle, 
And sometimes ride round on the circling beam. 

" The old wheel would creak, and the driver would whistle 
To force the blind horses to pull the wheel round ; 
And their backs were all scarr'd and stuck out in bristles. 
For the driver's fierce stick their old bones would pound. 

" The man at the gate, in fair weather or rainy, 
Stood out in the storm by the cold river-side, 
"With pockets capacious, to hold all the pennies : 
It took just four coppers to cross o'er the tide. 

" The pilot, he, too, took the wind and the weather, . 
Perched o'er the horses, with his tiller in hand ; 
Sometimes would the wind and the tide fierce together 
Delay him in getting his boat to the land. 

" Though four-horse was the power that plowed the fierce river, 
Yet oft in his hurry would the passenger curse, 
Though no thought would come to make a man shiver 
About the dread danger of a boiler to burst." 

1811.— On the 29th of November, 1811, Daniel Dod, a citizen of 
the United States, was granted a United States patent, by which he 
claimed as his invention, — 

1. The construction of the boiler. 

2. The condenser, consisting . . . 

3. The exclusive right to place the steam cylinder and other parts 
of the steam-engine between two boilers in a steamboat as described. 

4. The disposition and arrangement of the several parts and com- 
bination of the whole machinery. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 73 

In an accompanying schedule, Dod says, " I make the steam-engine 
to work with a double impulse, on the general principles of Watt and 
Bolton's steam-engines. I form the condenser of a pipe, or a number 
of pip^ condensed together, and condense the steam by immersing the 
pipes in cold water, either with or without an injection of water. For 
propelling a boat I make use of two wheels, one on each side, hung on 
an axis which lies across the boat. In the middle of this axis is a crank 
to which is attached the lower end of a pitman. The upper end of the 
pitman is attached to one end of a lever-beam ; the main piston-rod is 
attached. The lever-beam is placed above the cylinder of the steam- 
engine, in the manner practiced by Watt and Bolton. 

" The fly-wheels of the steam-engine I fix on the axis of the pro- 
pelling wheels ; I make the fly-wheels by weighting the propelling 
wheels with iron buckets or propelling boards, or with iron segments. 

" For steam I use two boilers placed in the bottom of the boat, one 
on each side of the space allotted for machinery. I fix the cylinder and 
steam-engine between the boilers. 

" The boilers I construct, viz., — the outside to be a cylinder of a 
length and diameter to produce the required steam. The cylinder to be 
horizontal, with a fixed flue equal to its length ; its form the segment 
of a semicircle or greater. This flue, placed within and near the lower 
side of the cylinder, allowed space for the water to pass under it. 
Within the flue, at one end, was the fire ; at the opposite end a pipe for 
carrying oif the smoke and producing a draft to carry off the smoke and 
make the fire burn briskly. The flat or upper side was strengthened 
and supported by perpendicular tubes, and by rods and braces extending 
from the upper side of the flue to the upper side of the cylinder. The 
axis of the propelling wheels pass over the top of the boilers." 

ic^i.a— May 12, 1812, Daniel Dod obtained another patent for his 
mode of applying the steam-engine to boats, mills, etc. After speci- 
fying his invention, Dod says, " My mode of applying this invention 
to the navigation of a boat is as follows : 

" I place two propelling wheels as near the bow of the boat as con- 
venience will admit. The arbors of these two wheels are placed in the 
same right line, and the inner ends of the arbors approach near together 
in the middle of the boat. One crank attached to the end of both 
. arbors, and one pitman from the end of the lower beam, put both wheels 
in motion. 

" Then two other propelling wheels are placed so far abaft of the 
forward wheels that the distance shall be equal to the sum of the length 
of the two lever-beams. The arbors of these two abaft wheels also are 
placed in a right line with each other, and the inner ends of the arbors 
approach near together, and a crank is connected with the ends of both 
arbors, similar to the forward wheels. Then a pitman from the end of 
the other lever-beam will drive both wheels together. 



74 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

" In this way, without a cog-wheel or sector of any kind, I employ 
one steam-engine and a boat to drive foic?' propelling wheels^ by which 
means I am enabled to avail myself of a large proportion of propellers, 
without making my wheels so wide as to project out an inconvenient 
distance from the sides of the boat/' 

Dod claimed the driving of double sets of machinery with one 
steam-engine, and the applying of four propelling wheels to a boat, as 
his invention and exclusive right ; but no profitable result seems to have 
been achieved from his invention. 

February 9, 1811, Robert Fulton obtained a United States patent 
supplementary to his patent of February 11, 1809, for inventions and 
discoveries for constructing boats or vessels to be navigated by the 
power of steam. Among other specifications describing his invention 
he says, " I use coupling boxes, or any other means to throw the pro- 
pelling wheels in or out of gear, or to work one wheel out and the 
other as required. This convenience I claim as my discovery and ex- 
clusive right. I also claim as my invention the guards which are around 
and outside the propelling wheels, which guards may support the out- 
side gudgeons of the wheels and afford a deposit for fuel, etc., water- 
closets for the use of passengers, and steps to enter from row-boats and 
to protect the water-wheels from injury from vessels and wharves." He 
also claimed the exclusive right to cover the water-wheels with boards, 
netting, grating, canvas or leather, etc., to prevent them from throwing 
water on deck or entangling the ropes. He claimed also to have in- 
vented placing the forward tiller or steering wheel farther forward in 
steamboats then used, since the boat being long and the deck covered 
with passengers the pilots behind could not see far ahead ; also the 
straight and diagonal traces being far extending from the boiler to for- 
ward of the machinery, which he placed on the sides to give them 
strength ; also a frame set in the bottom of the boat to bear the weight 
of the machinery and working of the engine ; also as his invention and 
exclusive right " the combination of sails with a steam-engine to drive a 
boat, I being the first who have done so, and proved by practice the 
utility of the union of the two powers of wind and steam.'' He 
claimed also in the patent his ^' particular mode of proportioning and 
placing a propelling wheel or wheels in the stern of a boat in a cham- 
ber formed by the two sides of the boat extending aft one or more feet 
farther than the extreme diameter of the propelling wheel, to each side 
of which projection there is a rudder, which two rudders connected by 
a cross-bar working on pivots cause ihem to move together and parallel 
to each other ; from this cross-bar on the rudders the ropes or steering 
chains lead on to the pilot." 

John C. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamilton, wrote to the Phila- 
delphia Times in 1878 : " About the year 1809 I went from New York 
to Washington City with my mother. Robert Fulton was in the stage 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 75 

with us, aod we were all day getting to Princetou, where we were to 
stop. Behind the stage Fulton had a submarine torpedo hitched up, 
which he was taking to Washington. Fulton was a gentleman in mind 
and manners.'' 

The first steamboat launched on Lake Champlain was in 1809 ; she 
was called the '' Vermont.'' Between 1809 and 1870 thirty steamboats 
had been built and run upon the lake, the last of which, like the pioneer 
boat, was named the ^' Vermont." 

1811. — The Boston Weekly Messenger of November 8, 1811, under 
the head of Kapid Teaveling, prints a letter from New York, dated 
October 24, which says, '^ The steamboat ^ Car of Neptune,' which left 
this city on Saturday evening last at five o'clock, arrived at Albany in 
twenty hours. She returned this morning in twenty-two hours, — equal 
to three hundred and thirty miles in forty-three hours ! Let foreigners 
say we have no talent for improvement. Point out where there is a 
mode of conveyance equal to this ! In what country are there so many 
enjoyments combined in one great polytechnic machine and mounted 
with wings as this which wafts passengers as by enchantment between 
the cities of New York and Albany ? To our countrymen, then, and 
our arts let justice be honorably and honestly measured out." 

In January of the same year Fulton had so little idea of the capacity 
and speed attainable by steam that, in a letter to Dr. Thornton,^ he 
says, '^ I shall be happy to have some conversation with you on your 
steamboat inventions and experience. Although I do not see by what 
means a boat containing one hundred tons of merchandise can be driven 
six miles an hour in still water, yet when you assert perfect confidence 
in such success, there may be something more in your combinations than 
I am aware of. . . . If you succeed to run six miles an hour in still 
water with one hundred tons of merchandise, I will contract to reim- 
burse the cost of the boat, and to give you one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars for your patent ; or, if you convince me of the success 
by drawings or demonstrations, I will join you in the expense and 
profits." 

Within forty years five times the amount of merchandise was pro- 
pelled by steam twenty miles an hour. 

On the 17th of March, 1811, a steamboat built by Fulton and 
Livingston was launched at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, under the super- 
intendence of Mr. Hoosevelt, as the agent of Messrs. Fulton, Livingston 
& Co., of New York. She was a stern-wheel boat, and was the first steam- 
boat ever run upon the Western waters of the United States. She was 
painted with a bluish-colored paint, and passed New Madrid, Missouri, 
at the time of the earthquake in December of that year. Mr. Scowls, 
who in 1853 was a wealthy citizen of Covington, Kentucky, was a 
cabin-boy on board. 

^ Eecently in the possession of Colonel Force, Washington. 



76 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

In 1814 she carried General Coffee and Don Carol from Natchez, 
with troops, down to New Orleans to aid General Jackson in his defense 
of that city. 

FIRST STEAMERS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE. 

1809-13. — In 1809 the first steamboat was launched on the St. 
Lawrence. The Quebec Mercuy^y of that date says concerning her, — 

" On Saturday morning at eight o'clock arrived here from Mon- 
treal, being her first trip, the steamboat '^ Accommodation," with ten 
passengers. This is the first vessel of the kind that ever appeared in 
this harbor. She is continually crowded with visitants. She left 
Montreal on Wednesday at two o'clock ; so that her passage was sixty- 
six hours, thirty of which she was at anchor. She arrived at Three 
Rivers in twenty-four hours. She has at present berths for twenty 
passengers, which next year will be considerably augmented. No wind 
or tide can stop her. She has seventy-five feet keel, and is eighty-five 
feet on deck. The price for a passage up is nine dollars, and eight 
down, the vessel supplying provisions. The great advantage attending 
a vessel so constructed is that a passage may be calculated on to a de- 
gree of certainty in point of time, which cannot be the case with any 
vessel propelled by sails alone. The steamboat receives her impulse 
from an open, double-spoked perpendicular wheel on each side, without 
any circular band or rim. To the end oCeach double spoke is fixed a 
square board, which enters the water, and by the rotary motion of the 
wheel acts like a paddle. The wheels are put and kept in motion by 
steam operating within the vessel. A mast is to be fixed in her for the 
purpose of using a sail when the wind is favorable, which will occa- 
sionally accelerate her headway." 

In the spring of 1813 a second boat, of increased dimensions, called 
the " Swiftsure," was launched from the banks of the St. Lawrence. 
She was one hundred and thirty feet in length of keel, and one hun- 
dred and forty feet on deck, with twenty-four feet beam, and, according 
to the Mercury^ made the passage from Montreal to Quebec in twenty- 
two hours, notwithstanding that the wind was easterly the whole time 
and blowing strong. 

The ^' Swiftsure" beat the most famous of the sailing packets on 
the river fourteen hours in a race of thirty-six hours, but her owners 
seem not to have been very confident of her movements under all cir- 
cumstances, or of the number of passengers who would patronize her, 
for she was advertised to '^ Sail as the wind and passengers may suit." 

FIRST STEAMBOATS IN INDIA. 

1810. — The "Van der Capellen," the first steamboat of which we 
have any record in connection with India, was built at Batavia soon 
after the conclusion of the Java war, in 1810-11, at the expense of 
English merchants. She was employed by the government for two 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 77 

years, at the rate of ten thousand dollars a month, which well repaid 
her original outlay. She proved very effective for the transport of 
troops and general service. After some years she came into the posses- 
sion of Major Schalch, and was used by him, under the name of the 
*^ Pluto," in 1822, as a dredging-boat. Then she went to Arraken 
as a floating battery. Finally she was lost, in 1830, in a gale. 

In 1819, W. Trickett built at the Butterley Works a small steam- 
boat of eight horse-power, for the Nawab of Oude, to ply on the Jumna.^ 

In 1821 the '^ Dlana'^ was sent out for a Mr. Roberts, intended for 
employment on the Canton River. She had a pair of sixteen horse- 
power engines. At Calcutta she was nearly reconstructed by Messrs. 
Kyd & Co., and launched again July 12, 1823, after w^hich she was 
purchased by the Bengal government and dispatched to Amarapura, 
five hundred miles up the river Irrawaddy, with Mr. Crawford, then 
the Resident in Burmah. She sailed in September, when that river is 
at its fullest, and her progress, which did not exceed thirty miles a day, 
was a disappointment to the Indian government. The water having 
fallen when she returned in December, the navigation was intricate, and 
her passage down was also tedious. 

iNTRor ljction of steamboats on the western w^aters. 

First Tri^> of the "New Orleans'^ from Pittsburg to New Orleans.^ 
1811. — Prior to the introduction of steamboats on the Western 
waters the means of transportation thereon consisted of keel-boats, 
barges, and flat-boats. The two former ascended as well as descended 
the stream. The flat-boat, or " broad horn," an unwieldy box, was 
broken up for its lumber on arrival at its place of destination. 
Whether steam could be employed on the Western ri-vers was a ques- 
tion its success between New York and Albany was not regarded as 
having entirely solved, and after the idea had been suggested of build- 
ing a boat at Pittsburg to ply between Natchez and New Orleans, it 
was considered necessary investigations should be made as to the cur- 
rents of the rivers to be navigated. These investigations were under- 
taken by Mr. Nicholas J. Roosevelt, with the understanding that if the 
report was favorable, Chancellor Livingston, Mr. Robert Fulton, and 
himself were to be equally interested in the undertaking. Livingston 
and Fulton were to supply the capital and Roosevelt was to superin- 

1 Early Steam Navigation to India, by G-. A. Prinsep, Calcutta, 4to, 1830. 

- This account of the " New Orleans' " first voyage is condensed from " The 
First Steamboat Voyage on the Western Waters," by J. H. B. Latrobe, Baltimore, 
October, 1871, 32 pp., 8vo, Fund Publication, No. 6, of the Maryland Historical 
Society. Mrs. Koosevelt was a sister of Mr. Latrobe, and alive when he wrote this 
narrative. This successful voyage of the " New Orleans" down the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi antedates the first voyage of the " Comet" on the Clyde, which commenced 
to ply between Glasgow and Helensburgh January, 1812, with only a speed of five 
miles an hour. 



78 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

tend the building of the boat and engine. He accordingly repaired to 
Pittsburg in May, 1809, accompanied by his bride, where he built a 
flat-boat which was to contain all the necessary comforts to float him- 
self and wife with the current from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and 
this boat was the home of the young couple for six months. He 
reached New Orleans about December 1, 1809, and returned thence to 
New York in the first vessel. Mr. Roosevelt had made up his mind 
that steam was to do the work, and his visit was to ascertain how best 
it could be done upon the Western streams. He gauged them and 
measured their velocity at difierent seasons, and obtained all the statis- 
tical information within his reach. Finding coal on the banks of the 
Ohio, he purchased and opened mines of that mineral, and so confident 
was he of the success of his steam project that he caused supplies of 
the fuel to be heaped up on the shore in anticipation of the wants of a 
steamboat whose keel had yet to be laid, and whose existence was de- 
pendent upon the impression of his report upon capitalists, without 
whose aid the plan would have, temporarily at least, to be abandoned. 
Mr. Roosevelt's report so impressed Fulton and Livingston that in the 
spring of 1810 he was sent to Pittsburg to superintend the building 
of the first steamboat that was launched on the Western waters. On 
the Alleghany side, close by the creek, and immediately under a blufl 
called Boyd's Hill, the keel of Mr. Roosevelt's vessel was laid. The 
depot of the Pittsburg and Connellsville Railroad now occupies the 
ground (1882). The size and plan of this steamboat was furnished by 
Robert Fulton. It was to be one hundred and sixteen feet in length, 
with twenty feet beam. The engine was to have a thirty-four-inch 
cylinder, and the boiler, etc., to be in proportion. To obtain the tim- 
ber, men were sent into the forest to find the ribs, knees, and beams, 
transport them to the Monongahela, and raft them to the ship-yard. 
The ship-builders and mechanics for the machinery department had to 
be brought from New York. A rise in the waters of the Mononga- 
hela set all the buoyant materials afloat, and at one time it seemed 
probable that the vessel would be lifted from its ways and launched 
before its time. At length the boat was launched, at a cost of near 
thirty-eight thousand dollars, and was named " New Orleans," after 
the place of her ultimate destination. 

As the ^^New Orleans" approached completion and it became known 
that Mrs. Roosevelt intended to accompany her husband, friends en- 
deavored to dissuade her from the utter folly, if not absolute madness 
of the voyage. Her husband was told he had no right to peril her life, 
however reckless he might he of his own. The wife, however, believed 
in her husband, and after a short experimental trip late in September 
the '' New Orleans" commenced her voyage. There were two cabins, 
one aft for ladies and a larger one forward for gentlemen. In the 
former were four berths. Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt took possession of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 79 

the cabin, as they were the only passengers. There was a captain, an 
engineer naaied Baker, Andrew Jack the pilot, six hands, two female 
servants, a man waiter, a cook, and an immense Newfoundland dog, 
named "Tiger." Thus equipped and manned, the "New Orleans" 
began the voyage which changed the relations of the West to the East, 
and which may almost be said to have changed its destiny. 

The people of Pittsburg turned out en masse and lined the banks 
of the Monongahela to witness the departure of the steamboat, and 
shout after shout rent the air, and handkerchiefs were waved, and hats 
thrown up in " Godspeed" when the anchor was raised, and as she dis- 
appeared behind the first headlands on the right bank of the Ohio. 

Too much excited to sleep, Mr. Roosevelt and his wife passed the 
greater part of the first night on deck, and watched the shore, covered 
then with an almost unbroken forest, as reach after reach and bend 
after bend were passed at a speed of from eight to ten miles an hour. 

On the second night after leaving Pittsburg the " New Orleans" 
rounded to opposite Cincinnati, and cast anchor in the stream. Levees 
and wharf-boats were things unknown in 1811. Here as in Pittsburg 
the whole town seemed to have assembled on the bank, and many 
of the acquaintances of their former visit came off in small boats. 
" Well, you are as good as your word ; you have visited us in a steam- 
boat," they said ; " but we see you for the last time : your boat may go 
down the river, but as to coming up it, the idea is an absurd one." The 
keel-boatmen shook their heads as they crowded around the strange 
visitor and bandied river wit with the crew that had been selected from 
their own calling for the first voyage. Some flat-boatmen, whose arks 
the steamboat had passed a short distance above the town, and who now 
floated by wnth the current, seemed to have a better opinion of the 
new-comer, and proposed a tow in case they were again overtaken. 
But as to the boat's returning, all agreed that that could never be. 

The stay at Cincinnati was brief, only long enough to take in a 
supply of wood for the voyage to Louisville, which was reached on the 
night of the fourth day after leaving Pittsburg. It was midnight on 
the 1st of October, 1811, that the " New Orleans" dropped anchor op- 
posite the town. There was a brilliant moon. It was almost as light 
as day, and no one on board had retired. The roar of the escaping 
steam, then heard for the first time, roused the population, and, late as 
it was, crowds came rushing to the bank of the river to learn the cause 
of the unwonted uproar. A letter written by one of those on board 
records the fact that there were people who insisted that the comet of 
1811 had fallen into the Ohio and produced the hubbub ! 

A public dinner was given Mr. Roosevelt a few days after his ar- 
rival, complimentary toasts were drunk, and the usual amount of good 
feeling on such occasions manifested. The success of the steamboat in 
navigating down-stream was acknowledged, but her return up-stream 



80 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

was deemed impossible, and it was regretted that it was the first and 
last time a steamboat would be seen above the falls of the Ohio. 

Not to be outdone in hospitality, Mr. Roosevelt invited his hosts 
to dine on board the " New Orleans," which still lay anchored opposite 
the town. The company met in the forward or gentlemen^s cabin, and 
the feast was at its height when suddenly there was heard unwonted 
rumblings, accompanied by a very perceptible motion in the vessel. 
The company had but one idea : the " New Orleans'^ had escaped from 
her anchor, and was drifting towards the falls, to the certain destruction 
of all on board. There was an instant rush to the upper deck, where 
the company found that, instead of drifting towards the falls of the 
Ohio, the " New Orleans'^ was making good headway up the river, and 
would soon leave Louisville in the distance down-stream. As the en- 
gine warmed to its work and the steam blew off at the safety-valve the 
speed increased. Mr. Roosevelt had, of course, provided this mode of 
convincing his incredulous guests, and their surprise and delight may be 
readily imagined. After going up the river a few miles the ^' New 
Orleans'^ returned to her anchorage. 

On leaving Pittsburg it was intended to proceed as rapidly as pos- 
sible to New Orleans to place the boat on the route for which it was 
designed between that city and Natchez. It was found, however, on 
reaching Louisville there was not a suf&cient depth of water on the falls 
of the Ohio to permit the vessel to pass over them in safety. The 
'^ New Orleans'^ therefore returned to Cincinnat^i, convincing the most 
incredulous of her power to stem the current of the river. The waters 
having risen, the " New Orleans'^ returned to Louisville, and safely 
passed through the rapids, crowds collecting to witness her departure. 
" Instinctively each one on board grasped the nearest object, and with 
bated breath awaited the result. Black ledges of rock appeared only 
to disappear as the ^ New Orleans' flashed by them. The waters 
whirled and eddied and threw their spray upon the deck as a more 
rapid descent caused the vessel to pitch forward to what at times seemed 
certain destruction. Not a word was spoken. The pilots directed the 
men at the helm by motions of their hands. Even the great New- 
foundland dog seemed affected by the apprehension of danger, and 
crouched at Mrs. Roosevelt's feet. The tension on the nervous system 
was too great to be long sustained. Fortunately, the passage was soon 
made, and with feelings of profound gratitude to the Almighty at the 
successful issue of the adventure on the part of both Mr. Roosevelt 
aiid his wife, the ^ New Orleans' rounded to in safety below the falls." 

Hitherto the voyage had been one of exclusive pleasure, but now 
were to come, in the words of the letter referred to, '^ those days of 
horror." The comet had disappeared, and was followed by the earth- 
quake of that year which accompanied the " New Orleans" far on her 
way down the Mississippi, the first shock of which was felt while she 



HISTORY OF STEAlM NAVIGATION. 81 

lay at anchor after passing the falls. On one occasion a large canoe 
fully manned came out of the woods abreast of the steamboat and 
paddled after it. There was at once a race, but steam had the advan- 
tage of endurance, and the Indians with wild shouts soon gave up the 
pursuit. One night there was an alarm of fire. The servant had 
placed some green wood too close to the stove in the forward cabin, 
which caught fire and communicated to the joiner- work of the cabin, 
when the servant, half suffocated, rushed on deck and gave the alarm. 
By great exertion the fire was extinguished. At New Madrid, a greater 
portion of which had been engulfed, terror-stricken people begged to 
be taken on board, while others, dreading the steamboat more than the 
earthquake, hid themselves as she approached. Having an insufficient 
supply of provisions for any large increase of passengers, the requests 
to be taken on board had to be denied. The earthquake had so changed 
the channels of the river that the pilots became confused, and guided 
her course more by luck and judgment than knowledge. As the steam- 
boat passed out of the region of the earthquake the principal incon- 
venience was the number of shoals, snags, and sawyers. These were 
safely passed, and the vessel came in sight of Natchez and rounded to 
opposite the landing-place. Expecting to remain here for a day or two, 
the engineer had allbw^ed his fires to go down, so that when the boat 
turned its head up-stream it lost headway altogether, and was being 
carried down by the current far below the intended landing. Thou- 
sands were assembled on the bluff and at the foot of it, and for a mo- 
ment it seemed that the " New Orleans'^ had achieved what she had 
done so far only that she might be overcome at last. Fresh fuel, how- 
ever, was added ; the engine w^as stopped that steam might accumulate ; 
presently the safety-valve lifted, a few turns of the wheels steadied the 
boat, a few more gave her headway, and overcoming the Mississippi, 
she gained the shore amid shouts of exultation and applause. 

The romance of the voyage ended at Natchez, where the same hos- 
pitalities were extended to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt that had been en- 
joyed at Louisville. From thence to New Orleans there was no occur- 
rence worthy of note. '' Although forming no part of the story of the 
voyage proper,'^ says Mr. Latrobe, " yet as this has been called a ro- 
mance, and all romances end, or should end, in a marriage, the incident 
was not wanting here, for the captain of the boat, falling in love with 
Mrs. Roosevelt's maid, prosecuted his suit so successfully as to find 
himself an accepted lover when the * New Orleans' reached Natchez ; 
and a clergyman being sent for, a wedding marked the arrival of the 
boat at the chief city of the Mississippi." 

The " New Orleans" ran afterwards between that city and Natchez. 
The first steamboat that ever ascended the streams of the Mississippi 
and Ohio was the fourth one launched or? the Ohio and the second 
built at Brownsville, and was named the " Enterprise." She was of 



82 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

only seventy-five tons burden. In 1814 she descended to New Orleans, 
and after serving General Jackson in his defense of that city in 1815, 
undertook and completed the return voyage to Pittsburg, reaching 
Louisville in twenty-five days. The waters of the Mississippi at the 
time were high, and she was enabled to avoid the current where any 
existed, and made her way through " cut-offs" and over inundated fields 
in still water. The voyage of the " Enterprise,'^ as is usually the case 
with first experiments, failed to convince the public of the practica- 
bility of ascending the Mississippi when that river was confined within 
its banks, and its current sweeping downward at a rate due to a descent 
of four inches to the mile. It was reserved to the steamboat " Wash- 
ington," Captain Henry M. Shreve, to demonstrate by a second voyage 
of twenty-five days from New Orleans to Louisville that steamboats 
could ascend this river in at least one-fourth the time required by the 
barges and keel-boats hitherto in exclusive use. At a public dinner 
given to Captain Shreve^ at Louisville on his return, he predicted that 
the time would come when his twenty-five-day voyage would be made 
in ten,— a. feat which his audience no doubt considered visionary, but 
which has since been performed in four days and 7iine hours. 

In 1823 there were public rejoicings at Louisville, Kentucky, when 
a steamboat arrived there in fifteen days and six hours from New Or- 
leans. The captain, answering a complimentary toast, gravely stated 
the upward passage might possibly be accomplished in fifteen days, or 
six hours less than the time he had just made. Within twenty years 
the passage was actually performed in a few hours over four days! 

The oldest steamboat company in the United States or in the world 
in 1858 (and we believe it still exists) was the United States Mail Line 
between Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. It was organized in 
1818, and kept improving and adding to its boats. This company 
built the first steamer designed exclusively for passengers. She was 
named the " General Pike," and made her trips between Louisville and 
Cincinnati in thirty-one hours, — a passage now made in nine hours. 

In 1858 eighteen miles an hour was the maximum speed attained 
on Western waters. At that date eight hundred and sixteen steamboats 
were employed on the Mississippi and its tributaries, having a total 
tonnage of three hundred and twenty-six thousand four hundred and 
forty-three tons. 

The traveler now on the Father of Waters is seldom if ever out of 
sight of the smoke or sound of a steamboat, and the boats have in- 
creased in size from seventy-five tons to between one and two thousand 
tons, with machinery powerful in proportion. 

The following table shows the progressive improvement made in 
the speed of the boats from New Orleans to Louisville (distance four- 
teen hundred and eighty mfles), 1815 to 1853 : 

1 Captain Shreve died March 6, 1851. He invented the first snag-boat. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



83 



Date. 



Mav, 1815 
April, 1817 
Sept., 1817 
Mav, 1891 
Nov., 1828 
April, 18 U 
Nov., 1837 
Nov., 1837 
Nov., 1837 
Dec, 1837 



Name of Steamer. 



Enterprise 25 

Washington .... 25 

Shelby ,20 

Paragon 18 

Tecumseh \ 8 

Tuscarora ....... i 7 

General Brown . . . ! 6 

Randolph \ 6 

Empress [ 6 

Sultana \ 6 



Date. 



40 : April, 1840 
00 ; April, 1842 
20 \: April, 1843 
00 i April, 1844 
00 ii Mav, 1849 
00 ! June, 1851 
00 1 1 Mav, 1852 
00 ; May, 1852 
00 !1 Mav, 1853 
15 i 00 !, Mav, 1853 



Name of Steamer. 



Edward Shippen 
Belle of the West 
Duke of Orleans 

Sultana 

Bostona .... 
Belle Key . . . 
Reindeer .... 

Eclipse 

A. L. Shotwell . 
Eclipse 





. 














fl 


hi 


5 


14 


6 


14 


5 


23 


5 


12 




8 




23 




20 




18 1 




10 




9 ' 



The last was the quickest time on record up to that date. Her 
average speed was fourteen miles an hour against the stream. 



STEAMBOATS IN ENGLAND. 

' 1813. — The ^^ Comet." — Stimulated, as he tells us, by the success 
of Mr. Fulton, with whom he was in correspondence/ Mr. Henry Bell, 
of Helensburgh, for many years a house carpenter in the city of Glas- 
gow, Scotland, determined, in 1812, to try the power of steam on the 
Clyde, and produced the first trading steam-vessel in Europe. 

Helensburgh is a w^atering-place on the river Clyde, and Mr. Bell, 
for several years preceding, had been the proprietor of a hotel and 
bathing-establishment there. It was to increase the facilities for reach- 
ing these baths that Mr. Bell first constructed his steamboat. 

In those days there were no conveyances on the river except " fly- 
boats," pulled by four oars or using sails when practicable ; with these 
the voyage was sometimes made in five or six hours, but often the time 
was longer and uncertain. After various experiments w^ith paddle- 
wheels driven by hand in place of oars, Mr. Bell was convinced, by 
the experiments of Millar and Symington and the success of Fulton, 
that steam-power alone would effect his object. In consequence, after 
making several models of a steam-vessel, he succeeded in one suited to 
his ideas, and contracted with Messrs. John Wood & Co., ship-builders, 
in Port Glasgow, to build a steam-vessel after his model, to be forty 
feet on the keel and have ten feet six inches beam. She was called the 
" Comet," because she was built and finished the same year that a comet 
appeared in the northwest part of Scotland. 

The ^' Comet" had two paddle-wheels, or rather two radiating sets 
of paddles, on each side, resembling very much in their appearance 
four malt shovels, radiating from a revolving axis to which they were 
all fixed. This was soon changed to Mr. BelPs complete wheel, which 

1 Mr. Bell, in a letter dated March 1, 1824, says, " When I wrote to the Amer- 
ican government on the great utility that steam navigation would be to them on 
their rivers, they appointed Mr, Fulton to correspond with me; so in that way the 
Americans got their insight from your humble servant." — Memob^ hy Patrick Mil- 
lar i Jr. 



84 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

has been in use ever since. The engine known as the bell-crank, on 
Mr. Watt's principle, was put up under Mr. BelPs superintendence. 
The boiler was every way inferior to the boilers of Millar, Taylor, and 
Symington, inasmuch as the fire was on the outside of the boiler, sep- 
arated from the wood of the vessel only by the bricks in which it was 
set, while in theirs, as in all steam-vessels of the present day, the fire 
was wholly within the boiler, and surrounded by water, so as to pre- 
vent danger from accident by fire or loss of heat. The boiler, which 
was fed by a cistern of fresh water, was on one side of the engine, the 
funnel being bent to the centre of the boat, where it served the pur- 
pose of a mast to carry sail. The early constructors of steamboats en- 
deavored to diso^uise the odious funnel under the desio:nation of a main- 
mast, and some went so far as to raise up a topmast in the thick folds 
of the dense, black smoke. 

The ^' Cornet'^ began to ply from Glasgow to Helensburgh in Jan- 
uary, 1812, making a speed of about five miles an hour. She was of 
about twenty-five tons burden, and her engine exerted a force of about 
three horse-power. She continued during the summer to ply success- 
fully as a passenger-boat. 

The following is a copy of the original advertisement : 

" STEAM PASSAGE BOAT. The Comet. Between Glasgow, 
Greenock, and Helensburgh, for passengers only. The subscriber 
having, at much expense, fitted up a handsome vessel to ply upon the 
KiVER Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock, to sail by the 
power of wind, air, and steam, he intends that the vessel shall leave 
the Broom ielaw on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, about mid- 
day, or at such hour thereafter as may answer from the state of the 
tide ; and to leave Greenock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in 
the morning, to suit the tide. 

^' The terms are for the present fixed at 4s. for the best cabin and 
3s. for the second ; but, beyond these rates, nothing is to be allowed to 
servants or any other person employed about the vessel. 

'^The subscriber continues his establishment at Helensburgh 
Baths the same as for years past, and a vessel will be in readiness to 
convey passengers in the Comet from Greenock to Helensburgh. 

" Passengers by the Comet will receive information of the hours of 
sailing by applying at Mr. Housten's office, Broomielaw ; or Mr. Thomas 
Blackney's, East Quay Head, Greenock. 

" Henry Bell. 

"Helensburgh Baths, Aug. 5, 1812." 

The '^ Cornet'^ was wrecked in 1825 in the Firth of Clyde on a re- 
turn trip from the Western Highlands, and many of her passengers 
were drowned. Bell, her originator, became as great a wreck as his 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. ■ 85 

vessel, and the Clyde trustees, out of gratitude, settled on him an an- 
nuity of one hundred pounds, which he enjoyed until he died, in 1830. 
His widow died in 1856, aged eighty-six.^ , 

1813. — The " Elizabeth." — The success of the " Cornet'^ soon 
excited competition, and three months after she began to ply upon the 
Clyde, the keel of a rival was laid, and in March, 1813, the '^Eliza- 
beth," the second steamer on the Clyde, was started, and continued to 
ply successfully, eclipsing the '^ Comet" and bringing much profit to 
the owner. The '' Elizabeth," says John Scott Russell, was probably 
the first remunerating steam-vessel in the world ; but we think he is 
mistaken. 

Mr. Bell had employed in his experiments on fly-boats an engineer 
named John Thomson, of Glasgow, who appears to have assisted in 
planning his first boat, and to have felt himself ill-treated by Bell in 
not being made a partner in that speculation. To avenge his wrong 
he got Mr. Wood, who built the '• Comet," to build a vessel fifty-one 
feet keel, twelve feet beam, and five feet deep. The tonnage of this 
vessel was about thirty-three tons, and her power about ten horses. 
The correct proportion of power to tonnage seems to have been the 
secret of her success. The owner's description of this vessel is an in- 
teresting and characteristic memorial of early steam navigation, he 
says, — 

" The ' Elizabeth' was started for passengers on the 9th of March, 
1813, and has continued' to run from Glasgow to Greenock daily, 
leaving Glasgow in the morning and returning the same evening. 
The passage, which is twenty-seven miles, has been made, with a 
hundred passengers on board, in something less than four hours, and 
in favorable circumstances in two and three-quarters. The ' Eliza- 
beth' has sailed eighty-one miles in one day, at an average of nine 
miles an hour. The ' Elizabeth' measures aloft fifty-eight feet ; the 
best cabin is twenty-one feet long, eleven feet three inches at amid- 
ships, and nine feet four inches aft, seated all round, and cov- 
ered with handsome carpeting. A sofa, clothed with marone, is placed 
at one end of the cabin, and gives the whole a warm and cheer- 
ful appearance. There are twelve small windows, each finished with 
marone curtains with tassels, fringes, and velvet, cornices ornamented 
with gilt ornaments, having altogether a rich effect. Above the sofa 
there is a large mirror suspended, and on each side bookshelves are 
placed containing a collection of the best authors for the amusement 
and edification of those who may avail themselves of them during the 
passage ; other amusements are likewise to be had on board. 

" The engine stands amidships, and requires a considerable space in 
length and all the breadth of the vessel. The forecastle, which is 
rather small, is about eleven feet six inches by nine feet six inches, not 
1 Notes cmd Qiceries, vol. iv., second series. 



S6 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

quite so comfortable as the after one, but well calculated for a cold day, 
and by no means disagreeable on a warm ; all the windows in both 
cabins are made in such a way as to shift up and down like those of a 
coach, admitting a very free circulation of fresh air. From the height 
of the roofs of both cabins, which are about seven feet four inches, 
they will be extremely pleasant arwi healthful in the summer months 
for those who may favor the boat in parties of pleasure. 

'^Already the public advantages of this mode of conveyance have 
been generally acknowledged ; indeed, it may without exaggeration be 
said that the intercourse through the medium of steamboats between 
Glasgow and Greenock has, comparatively speaking, brought those 
places ten or twelve miles nearer each other. In most cases the pas- 
sages are made in the same time as by the coaches ; and they have been, 
in numerous instances, done with greater rapidity. In comparing the 
comfortableness of these conveyances, the preference will be given de- 
cidedly to the steamboat. Besides all this, a great saving in point of 
expense is produced ; the fare in the best cabin being only four shil- 
lings, and in the inferior one two shillings and sixpence, whereas the 
inside of a coach costs not less than twelve shillings and the outside 
eight shillings.^' 

The " Clyde," a third vessel, was built by Mr. Wood the same 
year for Mr. Robertson, an engineer of Port Glasgow, and commenced 
her trips in July. She was seventy feet on the keel, seventy-six feet 
long on deck, thirteen to fourteen feet beam, of fourteen horse-power, 
and sixty-nine tons measurement. Her speed was six miles an hour. 

The " Glasgow," a fourth vessel, was also launched by Mr. Wood 
in 1813, seventy-two feet long, fifteen feet beam, seventy-four tons 
measurement, and sixteen horse-power. Her engines were constructed 
by Mr. Cook, of Glasgow. She was intended to carry goods as well 
as passengers, and was moderately sharp, but afterwards improved by 
lengthening the bow five feet, and giving it greater sharpness. This 
vessel belonged to the first joint stock company for steam navigation 
ever established. 

The ''DuMBAETON Castle," eighty-one tons, one hundred and 
seven and a half feet long, sixteen feet ten inches broad, and eight feet 
eleven inches deep, having two engines of thirty-two horse-power, was 
built in 1815, and the following year accomplished the first trip to 
Rothesay, considered a feat, as the sailing-packets formerly on the 
station occupied one day, and occasionally three days, in making the 
passage. The succeeding year she made the passage through the Kyles 
of Bute, and up Lochfyne to Inverary, having left Glasgow at 6 a.m., 
and reaching Inverary about 10 p.m., a most remarkable occurrence. 

The " Britannia," of seventy-three tons, ninety-four feet four 
inches long, by sixteen feet five inches broad, and eight feet eight inches 
deep, having two engines of fourteen horse-power, was built in 1815, and 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 87 

some years thereafter made the trip to Campbeltown in about fourteen 

hours. 

The ^'RoB Roy," fifty-six tons, eighty feet eleven inches long 

fifteen feet eight inches broad, and eight feet deep, was built in 1818, 

and was the first steamer that plied to Belfast. 

The ^'Robert Bruce," of ninety tons, ninety-four feet long, 
eighteen feet seven inches broad, and eleven feet deep, was also built 
in 1818, and was the first steamer that proceeded to Liverpool as a 
regular trader from Glasgow. 

In 1813 a steamer was launched at Manchester and another at Bris- 
tol. October, 1814, the first steamer was in operation on the Humber, 
and in December the first steamer on the Thames was put in motion on 
the canal at Limehouse. June 28, 1815, a steamboat, built on the 
Clyde, arrived and was placed on the Mersey. On her passage she 
called at Ramsey, Isle of Man. She is notable as the first steamer 
which plied on the Mersey, and also as the pioneer of that noble fleet 
of steamers which ply with regularity between Liverpool and the 
numerous ports of the English, Irish, and Scotch coasts, also from 
being the first steamer to encounter the passage of these coasts. 

About 1814 two vessels, "The Princess Charlotte" and the "Prin- 
cess of Orange," were built and experimented with on the Clyde by a 
man named Miller, and proved unsuccessful. Watt & Bolton were 
the engineers. 

The " Industry." — The seventh steamer built on the Clyde was 
launched by William Fyle, May, 1814. She was of only fifty-four 
tons register. After an honorable career she lay a long time sunk 
in the East India harbor at Greenock, but November, 1872, was 
floated, beached, and calked, and in 1876 was presented by Messrs. 
Steele & Co., Catskill, her owners, to the Glasgow Chamber of Com- 
merce, to be preserved as a memento of the early days of steam navi- 
gation, being beyond doubt the oldest steamboat in the world. 

In 1815 ten steamboats were plying from the Clyde for the convey- 
ance of passengers. The success of the steam-vessels at Glasgow soon 
excited attention elsewhere, and several Clyde-built vessels were pur- 
chased as models. A Mr. Lawrence, of Bristol, established a steam- 
boat on the Severn, and having carried her to ply on the Thames, the 
Company of Watermen made such opposition he was obliged to take 
her back to Somersetshire.^ 

June 11, 1813. — Robert Fulton filed in the Patent-Office at Wash- 
ington a petition for a patent, in which he asserted that he was the pro- 
prietor of tAvo patents which contemplated the propelling of one single 
boat by the steam-engine, and that in this prosecution of his experi- 
ments on the navigation by steam on a large scale he had made discov- 
eries and produced inventions extending to an incalculable degree the 
^ Buchanan's Practical Treatise on Propelling Vessels by Steam. 



88 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

benefits of his original discovery and invention of the practical method 
of navigation by steam. These inventions he goes on to state consist 
principally in the combination and connection of several boats, con- 
structed and connected in a manner so as to be propelled or drawn 
forward by one boat containing a steam-engine with the machinery 
necessary for the propelling of such steamboats. This invention con- 
sisting essentially in the separation of the steam-engine and of the boat 
containing the same from the boat or boats which carry the passengers 
and cargo, without, however, its being necessary to exclude from the 
boat carrying the steam-engine some part of the passengers and cargo. 
By which invention, the weight being distributed over a surface of water, 
which may be indefinitely increased, the draft of water necessary to 
carry the same may be indefinitely diminished, while at the same time 
all the inconveniences, expense, and liability to warp which attend one 
boat of very large dimensions and great length are avoided. 

18H. — Early in 1814 there were five steamboats on the Thames 
River. 1. The " Thames'' (originally the " Argyle"), fourteen horse- 
power, plying between London and Margate ; reckoned the best boat. 
The paddles alternated with each other, and were set at an angle of 
forty-five degrees. 2. The ^^ Regent," .ten horse-power, paddles set 
square, with rims like an overshot wheel ; expected to ply between Chat- 
ham and Sheerness. She was first built for the wheel to work in the 
middle; but this, not having been found to answer, was altered. 3. 
The " Defiance," twelve horse-power, to Margate, with double hori- 
zontal cylinder engine. 4. A boat which plied between London and 
Gravesend was laid aside on account of a lawsuit, as she was not worked 
tjy a privileged person. She was soon to start again, with a new twelve 
or fourteen horse-power Scotch engine, being originally fitted with a 
high-pressure engine. The wheels had rims, and the paddies swung 
like top butt-hinges. 5. A boat with double keel, six horse-power, 
was building above Westminster Bridge ; paddles upright ; said to be 
for London and Richmond. 6. Mr. Maudslay built a small boat in 
1813 for Ipswich and Harwich, sixteen miles done in two and a quarter 
hours, but against a strong wind in three hours. This had six frying- 
pan paddles set square, without rims. ^' There are two steam-vessels 
on the River St. Lawrence, one forty-eight the other thirty-six horse- 
power, which go at seven miles an hour, measure about one hundred 
and seventy feet long and thirty feet wide ! Another forty-eight horse- 
power vessel will be launched next year on that river. So that one 
may go by steam from Quebec to New York in eight days, with a short 
land carriage." ^ 

In October, 1814, the first steamboat on the Humber was started to 
run between Hull and Gainsborough. She was called the " Caledonia," 
and accomplished, with a favorable tide, fourteen miles an hour. She 
1 Buchanan's Treatise on Propelling Vessels. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 89 

made the voyage between the two ports, a distance of fifty miles, in 
eight hours. 

The "Margary'^ was taken south in 1814, along the east coast of 
Scotland. When she reached the Thames she passed close along the 
English fleet at anchor. Her extraordinary apparition excited a com- 
motion among officers and men ; none of them had seen a steamer 
before ; by some she was taken for a fire-ship. The nearest man-of- 
war hailed her, and on being answered that she was a steamer built at 
Dumbarton, on the Clyde, a seaman named John Richardson, from 
Dumbarton, who was alive in 1857, ran along the deck of the man-of- 
war shouting, '^ Hurrah for Scotland ! Dumbartoil forever !" The 
"Margary^' was fifty-six feet long and nineteen feet in breadth over all. 
On leaving for London she was taken through the Forth and Clyde 
Canal, and coasted up to London.^ 

The claims of the " Margary'^ conflict somewhat with those of the 
"Caledonia,'^ but the " Margary'' was launched June, 1814, according 
to Cleland's " Annals of Glasgow," published in 1816, and went to 
London November, 1814, while the same Annals say the '^ Caledonia" 
was not launched until April, 1815, and did not go to London until 
May, 1816. According to Cleland, twenty steam- vessels of various 
dimensions were built at Port Glasgow, Greenock, and Dumbarton, with 
engines of Glasgow make, during the four years 1812-16. Of these, 
the ^^ Elizabeth," launched November, 1812, went to Liverpool in 
1814; '^Argyle," launched in June, 1814, went to London in 1815; 
"Margary," launched June, 1814, went to London November, 1814; 
'^Caledonia," launched April, 1815, went to London May, 1816; 
"Greenock," launched May, 1815, went to Ireland, and then to Lon- 
don, May, 1816.2 

A Margate hoy of large dimensions, propelled by steam, was, in 
1815, run constantly from London to Margate, and, says a letter- writer, 
" from its novelty, and the certainty of its arrival within a given time 
(about twelve hours), it is much crowded with passengers." This was 
probably the " Margary." 

Mr. Martin, the harbor-master of Ramsgate, who commanded a 
sailing-packet from Margate to Ramsgate, says that in June, 1815, on 
one of his trips, his companions pointed out to him an object some dis- 
tance ahead, which they supposed to be a vessel on fire, but as they 
neared it, it was found to be the steamboat " Margary," alias " Thames."^ 
With a fresh breeze he sailed round her easily, as her engine was of 
ooly fourteen horse-power, and her model a clumsy one. Nothing 
could exceed the ridicule his passengers bestowed upon the unseemly 
vessel ; some compared her to a jaded horse with a huge pair of pan- 

^ Dumbarton Herald; also the Greenock Advertiser^ May 12, 1857. 

2 London Notes and Queries, vol. v., second series, 

^ Another gives the name of the " Argyle" to the " Thames." 

7 



90 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

niers, others to a smoke-jack. Yet this vessel had voyaged from Port 
Glasgow to Dublin, and from thence to London, and traversed fifteen 
hundred miles of sea, some part of it in tempestuous weather. 

1815.— ThQ British Naval Chronicle for July, 1815, says, ^' The 
^ Thames^ steam-yacht is said lately to have accomplished a voyage of 
fifteen hundred miles. She twice crossed St. George's Channel and 
sailed round Land's End, and is the first steam-vessel that ever traversed 
these seas. The advantages of a vessel enabled to proceed either by 
sail or steam, or both united, must indeed be sufficiently obvious, and 
especially in the certainty of reaching its place of destination in a given 
time." 

The Hampshire Telegraph, June, 1815, notices a steam-vessel which 
'' suddenly made its appearance lately at Portsmouth, England, and, 
coming into the harbor immediately against the wind, produced a con- 
siderable degree of curiosity. She is a very neatly-fitted vessel, and goes 
through the water at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, which 
is produced by the steam from an engine of fourteen horse-power. One 
ton of coal is sufficient fuel to produce the necessary force of steam for 
propelling her one hundred miles. She came from Plymouth Sound 
in twenty-three hours. It was intended, had the wind not been fair, 
that she should have towed the ^ Endymion' frigate out of the har^ 
bor ;" the *^ Endymion" being the vessel which was on the coast of the 
United States during the war of 1812-14, and had the credit of re- 
ceiving the surrender of the United States frigate " President.'' 

This notice undoubtedly refers to the " Argyle," launched on the 
Clyde, June, 1814, and renamed the "Thames," which is memor- 
able from being the first steamboat to make an extended sea-voyage in 
British seas. 

The " Argyle," or " Thames," was seventy tons register, seventy- 
nine feet long on the keel, had sixteen feet beam, and engines of four- 
teen horse-power. Her paddle-wheels were nine feet in diameter. She 
had two cabins, — one aft, the other forward of her engines. In her 
waist was the engine, the boiler on the starboard, the cylinder and fly- 
wheel on the port side. Her funnel did duty as a mast, and was rigged 
with a large square-sail. A gallery upon each side of the cabin formed 
a continuous deck. She had eighteen painted ports on each side, with 
two astern, which to a casual observer were very formidable. After 
plying a year between Glasgow and Greenock she was purchased by a 
London company, to be run between that city and Margate, and it 
became necessary to bring her by sea from the Clyde to the Thames. 

There was then in London a man named Dodd, who had served in 
the navy, and had distinguished himself as an engineer and architect, 
but who finally, driven by misfortune to intemperance, almost literally 
died in the streets a beggar. 

To this Dodd was intrusted the task of taking the " Argyle" from 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 91 

the Clyde to the Thames. He arrived in Glasgow April, 1815, with 
a crew consisting of a mate, an engineer, a stoker, four seamen, and a 
cabin-boy ; and with these put boldly to sea in the " Argyle" about the 
middle of May, 1815. His voyage at first was far from auspicious. 
The weather was stormy, the sea ran high in the strait which separates 
Scotland from Ireland, and, through ignorance, negligence, or misunder- 
standing, the pilot during the night altered the course, and the vessel 
came near being wrecked. At break of day, a heavy gale blowing, it 
was discovered they were within half a mile of a rock -bound lee-shore, 
two miles north of Port Patrick. To beat off in the teeth of the gale 
by the united power of steam and sails Dodd found impossible. De- 
pending, therefore, entirely on his engine, he laid the vessel's head 
directly to windward, and kept the log going. The vessel began slowly 
to clear the shore, about three knots an hour. Having acquired a suf- 
ficient offing, he bore away for Loch Ryan, gained the Irish coast, and 
May 24 entered the Liffey.^ 

A graphic and detailed account of her voyage, written by Mr. Weld, 
the secretary and historian of the Royal Society, who with his wife took 
passage on board at Dublin, can be found in Chambers^ Journal for 
April 25, 1857. 

Leaving the Liffey on Sunday noon, the 28th of May, 1815, many 
persons from curiosity crossed the bay in her and landed at Dnnleary 
(now Kingstown), and the sea being rough, the passengers were vio- 
lently sea-sick. Several naval officers on board declared it to be their 
firm opinion that the vessel could not live long in heavy seas, and that 
there would be much danger in venturing far from shore. At Dun- 
leary all the passengers except Mr. Weld and his wife left the boat, and 
it is to their brave resolve to remain that such a complete account of 
this pioneer voyage around the British Islands has been preserved. 

The voyagers soon left behind them all the vessels which had sailed 
from Dublin with the same tide, and the next morning, when off Wex- 
ford, the dense smoke which issued from the mast-chimney being ob- 
served from the heights over town, it was concluded the vessel was on 
fire, and all the pilots put off to her assistance. Putting in at several 
intermediate points, on the 6th of June the adventurers arrived at 
Plymouth. The harbor-master, who had never seen a steamboat, was 
as much struck with astonishment when he boarded the ".Thames" as a 
child in the possession of a new plaything. The sailors ran in crowds 
to the sides of their vessels as she passed, and, mounting the rigging, 
gave vent to their observations in the most amusing manner. 

On her arrival at Portsmouth thousands of spectators assembled to 
gaze upon her, and the number of boats that crowded around her was 
so great that it became necessary to request the port-admiral to assign 
the voyagers a guard to preserve order. A court-martial sitting on 

1 Moy^ning Chronicle^ June 15, 1815. 



92 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

board the " Gladiator" adjourned its session to visit her, and on the 
10th of June, Sir Edward Thornborough, the port-admiral, sent his 
band and a guard of marines on board, and soon after followed him- 
self, accompanied by three admirals, eighteen post-captains, and a large 
number of ladies. The morning was spent very pleasantly in steaming 
among the fleet and running over to the Isle of Wight, the admiral 
and the naval officers expressing themselves delighted with the 
" Thames/' 

From Portsmouth the steamer proceeded to Margate, which was 
reached Sunday, July 11, 1815. The next day she arrived at Lime- 
house, and was moored. They passed everything on the Thames, — all 
the fast-sailing Gravesend boats, pleasure-boats. West Indiamen, etc. 

The whole distance sailed from Dublin to Limehouse was seven 
hundred and fifty-eight nautical miles, which were accomplished in one 
hundred and twenty-one and a half hours, with an expenditure of one 
ton of coal for every one hundred miles. 

Sir Rowland Hill, the Post-Office Reformer, whose life has recently 
been published, makes a note as to the commencement of steam traffic 
at Margate. He was there in the year 1815, with his brother, Matthew 
Davenport Hill. On the 3d of July they " went to see the steamboat 
come in from London, generally performing the voyage in about twelve 
hours.''- '^ It is surprising to see," says Sir Rowland, '^ how most people 
are prejudiced against this packet. Some say that it cannot sail against 
the wind, if it is high; but when it entered the harbor (at Margate), 
the wind and tide were both against it, and the former rather rough ; 
yet I saw it stem them both. There was a great crowd, and much 
enthusiasm, though carpers predicted failure, and sneered at ^ smoke- 
jacks.' "^ 

1815, — Richard Trevithick obtained a patent in England for '^ a 
screw-propeller, consisting of a worm or screw, on a number of leaves 
placed obliquely around an axis, which revolves in a cylinder, fixed 
or revolving, or without a cylinder, at the head, sides, or stern of a 
vessel. In some cases the screw is made buoyant and works on a uni- 
versal joint." In a second specification he adds, " A stuffing-box, in- 
closing a ring of water," also " a boiler of a number of small perpen- 
dicular tubes, — each tube closed at the bottom, but all opening at the 
top with a common reservoir." This was the first English patent for a 
screw-propeller. It never was, however, made the subject of a prac- 
tical experiment. 

Employment of Steamers in the War of 1812-14. — The Gen- 
tleman's Magazine, April, 1814, in an article on ^'Steam-Engine Pas- 
sage-Boats," says, " For the information of those who are unacquainted 
with the fact, it may be necessary to state that the principal rivers of 
North America are navigated by steamboats ; one of them passed two 

1 New Castle Weekly Chronicle^ August 21, 1881. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 93 

thousand miles on the great river Mississippi in twenty-one days at the 
rate of five miles an hour against the descending current, which is per- 
petually running down. This steamboat is one hundred and twenty-five 
feet in length, and carries four hundred and sixty tons at a very shallow 
draught of water, — only two feet six inches, — and conveys whole ships' 
cargoes into the interior of the country, as well as passengers. 

'' The city of Xew York alone possesses serpen steamboats for com- 
merce and passengers. To name only one or two of them, that from 
thence to Albany, on the North Eiver, passes one hundred and thirty 
miles; then (after about forty-five miles of land-carriage to Lake 
Champlain) you enter another steamboat that will take you about two 
hundred miles to near Montreal, between which place and Quebec a 
British steamboat one hundred and forty feet in length ^ is constantly 
passing, and usually goes down in twenty-eight hours, but sometimes 
in only twenty-four, although the distance is one hundred and eighty 
miles, and returning she is seldom more than twelve or fifteen hours 
additional time, though the stream is almost constantly running against 
her with the great velocity so peculiar to the river St. Lawrence of North 
America. This boat in the last year was found of the greatest service 
to the British government in carrying troops and stores with greater 
ease and dispatch than can possibly be effected by land ; and it is 
here worthy of remark that in the late expedition of Admiral Sir John 
Borlase AVarren up the Potomac River, chasing the enemy, they, 
keeping their ships at a prudent distance from ours, sent one of their 
steamboats directly against the wind, so as to be just without gun-shot, 
and reconnoitred our fleet. This fact is mentioned because it is pre- 
sumed that it is the first instance where they have been applied to such 
purposes. 

'' The steamboats used at present in our own island are a sufficient 
demonstration of their utility ; it will be only necessary to mention 
those working on the river Braydon between Yarmouth and Norwich, 
and on the river Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock ; which boats 
on this latter station often beat the mail between the two places, and 
are always certain to time, let the wind and tide be what they may. 

^' It would occupy too considerable a space in this paper to enter into 
the merits of those steamboats now building and preparing on the 
rivers Tvdc, Thames, and Medway, particularly those wnth patent and 
simplified apparatus for the use of rivers, to pass coastwise, and for 
short runs of passages to the Continent ; but it is necessary to state, 
from most mature and deliberate examination, that some of these steam- 
boats with patent apparatus are so constructed that they can carry sail, 
and perform all the manoeuvres of other vessels at sea, when the wind 
is in their favor, and when against them by furling their sails pass right 

1 The " Swiftsure." See a-nte. 



94 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

in the wind's eye with velocity, thus continuing their passages in a 
straight line, while other vessels are obliged to tack to and fro/' 

It is interesting to note, as a measure of the steamboat's speed 
during the war of 1812-14, the captions of the newspaper articles of 
that day. Here is one : 

" By the arrival of the fast sailing ' Car of Neptune^ in twenty- 
four hours from Albany, we have news from the army under General 
Scott to a very late date." 

At that time the price of passage from Albany to New York was 
ten dollars. 

THE FIRST WAR STEAMBOAT. 

1814^. — Near the close of the year 1813, Robert Fulton exhibited 
to the President of the United States the drawing of a proposed war 
steamer or floating battery, named by him the '' Demologos." 

He contemplated, in addition to the proposed armament on deck, 
she should be furnished with four submarine guns, two suspended at 
each bow, to discharge a hundred-pound ball into an enemy ten or 
twelve feet below her water-line, and that she should have an engine 
for throwing an immense column of hot water upon the decks or 
through the ports of an opponent. Her estimated cost was three hun- 
dred and twenty thousand dollars, which was about the cost of a first- 
class sailing-frigate. 

Fulton's project was favorably received, and in March, 1814, a law 
authorized the President to cause to be equipped " one or more floating 
batteries for the defense of the waters of the United States." 

The construction of the vessel was committed by the " Coast and 
Harbor Defense Association" to a sub-committee of five gentlemen, 
appointed by William Jones, Secretary of the Navy. 

Robert Fulton, whose soul animated the enterprise, was appointed 
the engineer, and on the 20th of June, 1814, the keels of this novel 
steamer were laid at the ship-yard of Adam & Noah Brown, in the 
city of New York. The blockade of our coast by the enemy en- 
hanced the price of timber, and rendered the importation of copper, 
lead, and iron, and the supply of coal from Richmond and Liverpool 
diflicult ; these obstacles were, however, surmounted, and the enemy's 
blockade only increased the expense of her construction. With respect 
to mechanics and laborers there was also difiBculty ; shipwrights had 
repaired to the lakes in such numbers that comparatively but few were 
left on the sea-board ; besides, a large number had enlisted as soldiers. 
By an increase of wages, however, a suflicient number of laborers were 
obtained ; and the vessel was launched on the 29th of October, 1814, 
amid the hurrahs of assembled thousands. 

The river and bay were filled with steamers and vessels of war in 
compliment of the occasion. In the midst of these was the floating 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 95 

mass of the " Demologos," or " Fulton/^ as she was afterwards named, 
whose bulk and unwieldy form seemed to render her as unfit for motion 
as the land batteries which were saluting her.^ 

Captain David Porter, writing the Secretary of the Navy under 
date jS'ew York, October 18, 1814, says, '^I have the pleasure to inform 
you that the ' Fulton the First^ was this morning safely launched. Xo 
one has yet ventured to suggest any improvement that could be made 
in the vessel, and, to use the words of the projector, ^I would not alter her 
if it were in my power to do so J 

" She promises fair to meet our most sanguine expectations, and I 
do not despair in being able to navigate in her from one extreme of the 
coast to the other. Her buoyancy astonishes every one. She now 
draws only eight feet three inches of water, and her draught will be ten 
feet with all her guns, machinery, stores, and crew on board. The ease 
with which she can now be towed by a single steamboat renders it 
certain that her velocity will be sufficiently great to answer every pur- 
pose, and the manner it is intended to secure her machinery from the 
gunners' shot leaves no apprehension for its safety. I shall use every 
exertion to prepare her for immediate service. Her guns will soon be 
mounted, and I am assured by Mr. Fulton that her machinery will be 
in operation in about six weeks." 

On the 21st of November, 1814, the "Fulton" was moved from 
the wharf of Messrs. Brown, on the East River, to the works of 
Robert Fulton, on the North River, to receive her machinery. The 
steamboat " Car of Neptune" made fast to her port and the " Fulton" 
to her starboard side, towed her to her destination at the rate of three 
and a half to four miles per hour.^ 

The dimensions of this, the first tear steamer, were: Length, 150 
feet; breadth, 56 feet; depth, 20 feet; w^ater- wheel, 16 feet diameter; 
length of bucket, 14 feet ; dip, 4 feet ; engine, 48-inch cylinder, 5-feet 
stroke ; boiler, length 22 feet, breadth 12 feet, and depth 8 feet. 
Tonnage, 2475. She was the largest steamer by many hundreds of 
tons that had been built at the date of her launch. 

The commissioners appointed to examine her in their report say, — 

" She is a structure resting upon two boats, keels separated from 
end to end by a canal fifteen feet wide and sixty-six feet long. One 
boat contains the caldrons of copper to prepare her steam. The vast 

^ I have seen a large copper-plate engraving of the launch of the "Fulton." 
It is entitled "Launch of the Steam-Frigate 'Fulton the First,' at New York, 
Oct. 29, 1814; one hundred and fifty feet long, fifty-seven feet wide, mounting 
thirty long 32-pounders and two 100-pounders (columbiads). Philadelphia : Pub- 
lished March 27, 1815, by B. Tanner, 74 South Street. Drawn by I. I. Baralet, 
from a sketch by Morgan, taken on the spot." 

2 " Kees's Encyclopedia" states she was towed on this occasion by the " Par- 
agon," of three hundred and thirty-one tons burden, at the rate of four miles an 
hour. That she was towed by "Car of Neptune" and "Fulton" is, I believe, 
correct. 



96 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

cylinder of iron, with its piston, levers, and wheels, occupies a part of 
its fellow; the great water-wheel revolves in the space between them ; 
the main or gun-deck supporting her armament is protected by a bul- 
wark /ot^r /ee^ ten inches thicks of solid timber. This is pierced by thirty 
port-holes, to enable as many 32-pounders to fire red-hot balls; her 
upper or spar-deck, upon which several thousand men might parade, is 
encompassed by a bulwark which affords safe quarters. She is rigged 
with two short masts, each of which supports a large lateen yard and 
sails. She has two bowsprits and jibs and four rudders, two at each 
extremity of the boat ; so that she can be steered with either end fore- 
most. Her machinery is calculated for the addition of an engine 
which will discharge an immense column of water, which it is intended 
to throw upon the decks and all through the ports of an enemy. If, 
in addition to all this, we suppose her to be furnished, according to 
Mr. Fulton^s intention, with 100-pounder columbiads, two suspended 
from each bow, so as to discharge a ball of that size into an' enemy's 
ship ten or twelve feet below the water-line, it must be allowed that she 
has the appearance at least of being the most formidable engine of 
warfare that human ingenuity has contrived." 

Such is a correct description of this sea-monster of 1814, but exag- 
gerated and fabulous accounts of her got into circulation. Among 
others, the following was published in a Scotch newspaper, the writer 
stating that 'Mie had taken great care to procure full and accurate 
information." ^ 

^' Her length," he writes, '' on deck is three hundred feet ; thickness 
of sides, thirteen feet, of alternate oak plank and cork-wood; carries 
44 guns, four of which are 100-pounders ; and further to annoy an 
enemy attempting to board can discharge one hundred gallons of boil- 
ing water in a minute, and by mechanism brandishes three hundred 
cutlasses with the utmost regularity over the gunwales ; works also an 
equal number of heavy iron pikes of great length, darting them from 
her sides with prodigious force, and withdrawing them every quarter 
of a minute." 

The stores of artillery at New York not furnishing the number 
and kind of cannon she was to carry, guns were transported from 
Philadelphia, a prize having placed some excellent pieces at the disposal 
of the Navy Department. To avoid the danger of their capture, 
twenty of these guns were sent over the miry roads of New Jersey 
dragged by horses. 

In consequence of the exhaustion of the treasury and temporary 
depression of the public credit, the commissioners were instructed to 
pay the bills for the "Fulton" in treasury notes, but solely at par. 
These notes were often so long withheld that those who had advanced 

1 Stuart's " War and Mail Steamers" has accurate drawings of the " Fulton" 
from the originals. 



HISTORY Oi STEAM NAVIGATION. 97 

materials and labor were importunate for payment, and the commis- 
sioners had frequently to pledge their private credit. Once the men 
discontinued work. From these causes her completion was retarded 
until winter, and also by the unexpected death of Mr. Fulton, on the 
24th of February, 1815. 

All difficulties at length being surmounted, the machinery was put 
in motion, and she made her first trial trip on the 1st of June, 1815, 
only nine months after her keels were laid. On this trial she was 
found capable of opposing the wind, of stemming the tide, of crossing 
currents, and of being steered among vessels riding at anchor, though the 
weather was boisterous and the water rough. Her performance demon- 
strated the success of Fulton's idea, and that a floating battery composed 
of heavy artillery could be moved by steam. 

She left the wharf near the Brooklyn ferry, propelled by steam 
alone, against a stiff south breeze (which was directly ahead) and a 
strong ebb-tide, and steamed by the forts, saluting them with her guns, 
her speed equaling the most sanguine expectations. 

After circumnavigating the bay and receiving a visit from the 
officers of a French ship-of-war, she came to anchor at Powles' Hook 
ferry about 2 p.m., nothing occurring to mar the pleasure or success of 
the trip. It was discovered, however, that alterations were necessary, 
some errors to be corrected, and some defects to be supplied, before she 
was prepared for a second trial. 

On the 4th of July, 1815, she again made a trip to the ocean, east- 
ward of Sandy Hook, and back again, a distance of fifty-three miles, 
in eight hours and twenty minutes, without the aid of sails, the wind 
and tide being partly favorable and partly against her, the balance 
rather in her favor. The gentlemen who witnessed this experiment 
without exception entertained no doubt as to her fitness for the in- 
tended purpose. Expedients were sought to increase her power, and 
devised and executed for quickening and directing her movements. 

A third trial of her powers was attempted, on the 11th of Septem- 
ber, with twenty-six of her long and ponderous guns and a consider- 
able quantity of ammunition and stores on board. Her draught of 
water was less than eleven feet. She changed her course by reversing 
the motion of her wheels, without the necessity of putting about, like 
the ferry-boats of the present day. She saluted as she passed the forts, 
overcame the resistance of the wind and tide in her progress down the 
bay, and performed beautiful manoeuvres around the United States 
ship " Java,'' then at anchor near the light-house. She moved with re- 
markable celerity, and was perfectly obedient to her double helm. The 
explosion of powder produced very little concussion on board, and her 
machinery was not affected by it in the slightest degree. Her progress 
during the firing was steady and uninterrupted. On the most accurate 
calculation, her velocity was four and a half miles an hour, and she 



98 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

made headway at the rate of two miles an hour against the ebb of the 
East River, running three and a half knots. The day's exercise was 
satisfactory to the company on board beyond their most sanguine ex- 
pectation, and it was universally conceded that the United States 
possessed a new auxiliary against every maritime invader. The city 
of j^ew York was considered as having the means of making itself 
invulnerable, and that every bay and harbor of the nation might be 
protected by the same tremendous power. Her performance more 
than equaled Fulton's expectations, and it exceeded what he had prom- 
ised the government, — that she should be propelled by steam at the 
rate of from three to four miles an hour. 

The commissioners who superintended her construction congratu- 
lated the government and the nation on the event of this noble project, 
and said, "■ Honorable alike to its author and its patrons, it constitutes 
an era in warfare and the arts. The arrival of peace indeed has dis- 
appointed the expectations of conducting her to battle. That best and 
conclusive act of showing her superiority in combat has not been in the 
power of the commissioners to make. 

*^ If a continuance of tranquillity should be our lot, and this steam- 
vessel of war be not required for the public defense, the nation may 
rejoice in the fact we have ascertained as of incalculably greater value 
than the expenditures, and that if the present structure should perish, 
we have the information, never to perish, how, in any future emergency, 
others may be built. The requisite variation will be directed by cir- 
cumstances." 

The war having terminated, " Fulton the First,'' after these trial 
trips, was taken to the navy-yard at Brooklyn and moored on the flats 
abreast of that station, where she was used as a receiving-ship until the 
4th of June, 1829, fifteen years after the laying of her keels, when 
she was accidentally or purposely blown up. 

Commodore Chauncey, reporting this catastrophe, says ithat he had 
been on board of her all the morning inspecting the ship and men, 
particularly the invalids, who had increased considerably from other 
ships, and whom he had intended asking the Department's permission 
to discharge, as of little use to the service. He had left the ship but 
a few moments before the explosion took place. The report did not 
appear to him louder than a 32-pounder, although the destruction of 
the ship was complete and entire, owing to her very decayed state. 
There was on board at the time no more than two and a half barrels of 
damaged powder^ kept in the magazine, for the morning and evening 
gun. By this explosion, however, twenty-four men and a woman 
were killed, nineteen wounded, and five reported as missing and prob- 
ably killed. Among the killed was Lieutenant S. M. Breckinbridge, 
and among the wounded Lieutenant C. F. Piatt, who died a captain in 
the navy. Lieutenant A. M. Mull, and Sailing-Master Clough ; Lieu- 



HISTOBY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 99 

tenant Piatt was dangerously, the others severely, wounded. Four mid- 
shipmen were among the wounded. 

Commodore Chauncey was of opinion that " the explosion could 
not have taken place from accident, as the magazine was as well or bet- 
ter secured than the magazines of most of our ships ; yet it is difficult 
to assign a motive to those in the magazine for so horrible an act as 
voluntarily to destroy themselves and those on board, yet if the ex- 
plosion was not the effect of design, I am at a loss to account for the 
catastrophe.'^ 

Master Commandant John T. JN'ewton,^ her commander, was on 
shore at the time of the explosion. Such was the beginning, end, and 
uneventful history of the first steam-vessel of war ever put afloat, — the 
pioneer, and to an extent the model also, of the floating batteries, 
double-hulled vessels, and " double-enders'^ which have succeeded her. 

Captain E. C. Bowery, U.S.N., a surviving officer of the '^ Ful- 
ton," writing me under date December 13, 1881, says, '^ I say the 
destruction of the ^ Fulton' was by carelessness. I believe in Divine 
Providence, but not in accident. I joined her in the early part of 1826 
as an acting midshipman, Commander Budd then having command. 
Her magazine (if it could be called one) was nearly under the ship's 
coppers, and separated only by a light bulkhead was the ' bag-room/ 
in which the sergeant of marines had a writing-desk, on which was a 
naked oil lamp. Soon after reporting, I had occasion to go down there; 
the bulk-head had a sliding door, which was open, and his lamp shone 
on the kegs of powder, one of which was without a head. I remarked 
to the sergeant, ' If your light was only five feet nearer (all the space 
that separated it from the powder) there would be trouble.' ' Yis,' said 
he, turning his beery eyes on me, ' there would be a sensation.' After 
that I never turned in at night without thinking there might be a sen- 
sation before cock-crowing, and to this day I have not forgot the ap- 
pearance of that powder with the light shining on it, and draw the 
inference that gross carelessness caused the sensation. Yet at the time 
there was a story that a gunner's mate had been disrated and punished 
with the cats the morning before the blowing up of the ' Fulton.' " 

FIRST STEAM- VESSELS IN EUSSIA. 

181S. — Steam navigation was adopted in Russia at an early date. 
Mr. Baird, superintendent of the mines, made the first experiments in 
1815 with an open boat of his own construction, fitted with a four 
horse-power engine, with which he made his first trip from St. Peters- 
burg to Cronstadt and back on the loth of November. In 1816 he 
built a steam-vessel of larger dimensions, with an engine of twenty 

1 Captain Newton also commanded the "Missouri" when she was burned in 
Gibraltar B&j, 1844. 



100 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

horse-power, for conveyance of passengers between the two places. For 
twenty years he had the exclusive privilege of furnishing the Russian 
metropolis with steamboats for mercantile purposes. The first govern- 
ment steam- vessel, the " Rapid," was constructed at the Ishora yard in 
1816, and was of thirty-two horse-power. The first Russian steam- 
vessel armed with guns was built in 1826. The Neva was the first 
river in Russia on which steamboats were applied. The Caspian Sea, 
in 1844, was navigated by four steamboats, each of forty horse-power. 
The first steamboat introduced into Siberia was built in 1843, and em- 
ployed on Lake Balkan. She was of thirty-two horse-power, and 
called the "Emperor Nicholas." 

In the American Daily Advertiser of November 27, 1816, there 
appears the following notice of a new steamboat to run between New 
York and Baltimore, commanded by Captain Moses Rogers, who three 
years later further immortalized himself, in connection with steam nav- 
igation, by commanding the " Savannah," the first steam-vessel that 
ever crossed the Atlantic : 

" New Steamboat. — On Tuesday last the elegant steamboat ^ New 
Jersey,' Moses Rogers master, sailed from this port for Baltimore. 
This boat is coppered completely, and furnished with powerful copper 
boilers. She is finished in a style superior to any ever built in this 
place; the workmanship of the main and ladies' cabins is executed 
with great taste and with every possible accommodation for pas- 
sengers. 

" Her engine was constructed by Mr. Daniel Large, of this city, 
engineer; it appears to be an improvement of the plan proposed by 
Mr. David Prentice, and exemplified in one of the ferry-boats on the 
Delaware. The cylinder is fixed upon an inclined plane, and the shafts 
of the two wheels are furnished with a crank common to both, which 
crank, by a connecting-rod, puts the fixtures of the cylinder and air- 
pump in motion without that tremor and noise which is so injurious to 
steamboats in general, and unpleasant to the passengers. Her speed, 
in the trials which have been made, exceeds that of the fastest boats 
at their commencement, and if she continues to improve she will be 
one of the most expeditious steamboats in the United States. No 
expenses have been withheld ; every opportunity has been employed 
to fit her for the station in the line of steamboats for which she is in- 
tended, between Baltimore and Elkton. Captain Rogers was also the 
first who went to sea in a steamboat; he navigated the ^Phoenix,' in 
1809, from New York to Philadelphia; in 1813 he navigated the 
^ Eagle' from this port (New York) to Baltimore, and now, towards the 
close of November, he proposes to conduct this steamboat to the capes 
of the Delaware, and from thence to Baltimore, by way of Norfolk, in 
Virginia." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 101 

1816. — Nicholas J. Roosevelt, in the following advertisement, claims 
the invention of vertical paddle-wheels for steamers, and for which he 
obtained a United States patent in 1814 : 

"STEAMBOAT NOTICE. 

" ALL persons are hereby informed that I claim the right of In- 
ventor of Vertical Wheels, as now generally used for Steam Boats 
throughout the United States, having been first used, after my inven- 
tion, in the North River Steam Boat, by Messrs. Livingston & Fulton. 

" I have obtained a Patent in due form of law, for my invention, 
which is dated the 1st day of Dec. 1814. 

" No other person in the United States has any Patent, but myself, 
for the invention of Vertical Wheels. Having obtained a legal title to 
the sole use of steam boats with such wheels, I hereby forwarn all per- 
sons from using them hereafter without license from me. The patent 
and evidence of my right are in the hands of Wm, Griffith, Esq., of 
the City of Burlington, my Counsel-at-Law. 

" On this subject, so very important to me (being the only real and 
efficient invention since Fitch's Boat), I do not by this notice challenge 
controversy, but am prepared to meet it in any form. My object is to 
make known, that I am the inventor, and have the Patent right. In- 
dividuals or companies who use such wheels without my license after 
this, will be prosecuted under the Law of Congress, for damages 
amounting to the profits of the boat. Licenses will be sold under me 
at moderate rates, and warranted.^ 

" Nicholas J. Roosevelt. 

"Burlington, N. J,, 4th MarcL, 1816." 

1816. — The first steamer specially built at Liverpool for the pur- 
pose of a ferry was the *' Etna,'' which in April, 1816, began to ply 
between Liverpool and Traumere. She was sixty-three feet long, with 
a paddle-wheel in the centre^ her extremities being connected by beams, 
and her deck twenty-eight feet over all. This primitive vessel initi- 
ated the transit by the numerous ferry-boats which now bridge tiie 
Mersey. 

March, 1816. — The " Majestic" was the first steamboat that crossed 

1 a]SfoTE. — Although my Patent assures me a legal right, any person may be 
further satisfied of my just claim by recurrence to the evidences in the hands of my 
Counsel-at-Law. They consist principally of original letters between Chancellor 
Livingston, Mr. Stevens and myself, on this very thing, at the time of my invention, 
accompanied with depositions of many persons witnesses of, and knowing to the 
fact. 

"N.J. R. 
"March 15, 1816." . 

— Philadelphia Newspaper, March 16, 1816 

2 This was like Fulton's ferry-boats in New York in 1810. 



102 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

the English Channel from Brighton to Havre. She was built at Eams- 
gate, and had engines of twenty-five horse-power, and was considered 
a gigantic concern. Her crossing from Dover to Calais with two hun- 
dred passengers and return without accident was a highly appreciated 
feat. The ^' Majestic'^ established the superiority of steamboats over 
other means of water conveyance. The sailing-packet between Mar- 
gate and Ramsgate was often detained two days by calms and tides. 
The steamboat passed and repassed the sailing-packet loaded with pas- 
sengers. On one occasion, the third night out, the packet caught at 
anchor in a sudden northerly gale, lost much of her gear, and the next 
day, while the gale was stronger, had the mortification of seeing the 
" Majestic" pass and convey her passengers into Margate. 

1816. — The first line of steamboats from New York to New Lon- 
don, Connecticut, was established in 1816. On the 28th of September, 
1816, the " Connecticut,'^ Captain Bunker, arrived from New York in 
twenty-one hours, — which w^as regarded as a signal triumph for steam, 
the wind and the tide being against her. In October a regular line 
commenced making two trips per week to New Haven ; the '^ Fulton," 
Captain Law, at the same time running between New York and New 
Haven. The price of passage was five dollars to New Haven, and 
from thence to New York four dollars. 

Jonathan Morgan, Esq., of Wiscasset, Maine, a well-known and 
eccentric citizen of Portland, Maine, in 1816 ascended the Kennebec 
River by steam. In June, 1818, this boat, the "Alpha," of fifteen 
tons, was sold at " public vendue" by a constable of Wiscasset for 
eighty-seven dollars. The boat was a long, narrow, flat boat, and the 
machinery being taken out she was converted into a fishing-vessel. 
The steam-power was applied to a screw-propeller in the stern. Her 
boiler was built of pine plank, and about the size of a common molasses 
hogshead, into which was fixed a fire-box of iron. An endless chain 
connected the engine with her propeller. The machinery was invented 
and designed by Jonathan Morgan, who anticipated a fortune from its 
invention. 

The first trip of the "Alpha" up the Kennebec was as far as 
Augusta. At Hallowell the boat halted, when many visitors inspected 
the strange craft. Mr. Morgan came on shore, and Page & Bemant, 
to encourage the enterprise, made him a donation in money. Leaving 
the wharf, she was unable to stem the current, and was carried sidelong 
across the river and fell back to Clark's wharf, lower down. At last 
she gained sufficient headway to proceed up river to Augusta, where 
she was greeted with many cheers. Mr. Morgan, who removed to 
Portland in 1820, was so ashamed of his failure that he never wished 
to have it spoken of. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 103 

THE FIRST ENGLISH STEAM-TUGS. 

1816. — It has been asserted that the first application of steam for 
the purpose of towing vessels was made in October, 1816, when the 
^' Harlequin'^ was towed out of the Mersey by the " Charlotte," a 
steamer which, in the summer of the same year, had been placed as a 
ferry-boat to run between Liverpool and Eastham.^ 

In 1819, Mr. Rennie, who planned the breakwater at Plymouth, 
England, was the " advising engineer" to the Admiralty, and on every 
occasion urged the application of steam-power to vessels of war. He 
hired at his own cost the Margate steamboat ^^ Eclipse," and success- 
fully towed the " Hastings," 74, against the tide from Woolwich to 
Gravesend, June 14, 1819. In consequence of this feat. Lord Melville 
and Sir George Cockburn, R.N., urged the great value of steam-power 
for towing men-of-war. 

In his "Local Records," 1857, Mr. Latimer perpetuates the mem- 
ory of The Tynesides, who introduced steam-towing : " Died in Gates- 
head, September 27, 1852, aged 81, Mr. Joseph Price, glass manufac- 
turer, who was the first to apply steam-vessels to the towing of ships 
to and from sea, in adverse winds, for which he received a handsome 
testimonial in 1818." ^ 

In Gateshead the first English steamboat was built. It was 
launched from the South Shore in the month of February, 1814 ; and 
the glass manufacturer took an interest in the question of navigation 
by steam. In his retrospect, July, 1838, " To Merchants, Manufac- 
turers, Shipowners, &c.," he tells us that, '^ In 1815 he became a 
shareholder in a steamboat speculation on the Tyne, w^hich was con- 
tinued for two years, when the boats, becoming out of repairs, were laid 
up." Fertile in resource, Mr. Price devised a new use for the boat 
with wheels, — a contrivance that was celebrated in song by his towns- 
man, Wilson, author of " The Pitman's Pay." 

"Steam neist cam' puffin' into play, 
And put an end to rowin' ; 
"When Price said, in his schemin' way, 
' Let's try the chep at towin'.' " 

" July, 1818," Mr. Price " conceived good might be done by towing 
vessels to sea." ^' In furtherance of my idea," as may be read in his 
address of 1838, " I applied to the late Mr. Robson, wharfinger of 
Newcastle, for leave to try an experiment with one of his loaded ves- 
sels, which was granted. I gave notice to Captain Copeland, of the 
Friends' Adventure, Hull trader, to have all ready from an hour to an 
hour and a half before highwater. At the time appointed I requested 

^ The " Charlotte Dundas," it should be remembered, however, was built for a 
tow-boat, and we have already shown that Fulton's steam-battery was towed on one 
occasion by the " Car of Neptune" and " Fulton." 



104 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

him to throw a line on board the steamer. The tide was against us the 
first three miles. Everything answered as well as I could wish, and 
the vessel was towed two miles over the bar in two hours and ten min- 
utes — a distance of thirteen miles — the wind against us all the way. 
This was the first time a sailing vessel was ever towed by a steamboat. 
The public did not at first appreciate my endeavors for expediting the 
sailing of ships in adverse winds. On the contrary, I was told I had 
ruined the port. I continued my two steamboats, the Eagle and Per- 
severance, in this employ, with little benefit to myself, for my captains 
were so timorous they would not stir but in moderate weather. They 
once had an offer to tow two ships with one boat. They would on no 
account undertake so heavy a task." 

The " Perseverance" was originally known as the " Tyne Packet," 
or " Tyne Steamboat," and afterwards called by a distinctive name 
when she was no longer alone on the river. Mr. Price's example led 
the way to general traction by steam. " After a considerable interval 
other owners of steamboats saw the advantage of the towing system, 
and employed theirs in a similar manner, receiving pay according to 
the depth of water the sailing vessels drew. The advantage to the 
ship-owner was great. Previously no vessel over 240 tons register 
ever attempted to come up to Newcastle. After the introduction of the 
towing system vessels of 400 tons register were brought up ; and ves- 
sels that previously averaged only eight voyages in the year between 
the Tyne and the Thames were able to average thirteen voyages, thereby 
keeping the coal market regularly supplied, and preventing those great 
fluctuations in prices which formerly had such a serious effect in in- 
creasing the misery of the poor." 

The towing system, Mr. Price says, was in 1821 adopted between 
Hull and Gainsbrough ; in 1826 at Liverpool; "afterwards at Mon- 
treal, where a large steam-vessel towed from three to four ships at 
once from Quebec in less than forty-eight hours, then thought a heavy 
task, considering the strong current she had to contend against. Pre- 
viously, ships going to Montreal required from two to three weeks to 
complete the distance." 

Mr. Price's services were recognized on the Tyne by a banquet and 
the presentation of a silver tankard bearing the following inscription : 

Presented to Mr. Joseph Price 

by the 

Shippers and Manufacturers of Lead, 

and the 

Wharfingers of the Goods Trade between 

Newcastle and London, 

as a mark of their approbation for 

his zeal and spirited exertions 

in the Application of Steamboats to the Towing 

of Vessels on the River Tyne. 

1818. 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 105 

PROGRESS OF STEAM NAVIGATION IN ENGLAND. 

1819. — The first steamers on the line between the Mersey and the 
Clyde were the " Eobert Bruce'^ and the ^' United Kingdom," which 
began to ply regularly in 1819, between Liverpool and Glasgow. The 
following is the advertisement of the first return voyage from Liver- 
pool to Glasgow of the pioneer vessel, " Robert Bruce'' : 

'^Safe and Expeditious Traveling between Liverpool 

AND Glasgow. 
" The elegant new steam-packet ^ Robert Bruce,^ Captain John 
Paterson, will sail from Glasgow to-morrow (Tuesday), the 23d of 
August, at eight o'clock in the morning, from the George's Dock pier- 
head. The accommodation of passengers is most excellent, and she is 
expected to perform the passage within thirty hours. The fare in the 
cabin forty shillings, steerage twenty-one shillings; passengers will he 
accommodated ivith provisions at moderate terms. For passage apply 
to Captain Paterson, or to John Richardson. 
" Liverpool, 22d August, 1819." 

The first steam-vessel employed in the Irish trade with Liverpool 
was the "Waterloo," built at Greenock, and launched on the 18th of 
June, 1819. Being fitted with engines and other requisites for a pas- 
senger steamer, she proceeded to Belfast to ply between that port and 
Glasgow. Her destination was soon changed, and she was placed on 
the line between Liverpool and Belfast. Her first arrival was thus 
announced in the Liverpool Mercury of July 23, 1819 : 

" Yesterday a beautiful steam-packet arrived at this port from Bel- 
fast, after a passage of only twenty-four hours. She is called the 
^ Waterloo,' and is a fine, well-built vessel, burden two hundred and 
one tons, length ninety-eight feet, breadth on deck thirty-seven feet, 
and has two highly-finished steam-engines of thirty horse-power each, 
which work without noise or vibration, and are on the low-pressure 
construction, perfectly safe from accident. They are attended by two 
experienced engineers. The vessel is provided with two masts, with 
sails and rigging. Her interior accommodations are as complete and 
elegant as skill and expense can make them. She has a handsome 
dining-room, capable of accommodating all the cabin passengers, a 
separate and neatly decorated cabin for ladies, and two apartments for 
private families ; twenty-two well-furnished beds, each accommodated 
with light and air ; and a comfortable place for steerage passengers. 
She cost nearly ten thousand pounds. She will saib for Belfast at tide 
time to-day, and will return on Monday. She will sail the same day, 
and regularly every Monday and Friday. Fares, cabin, £1 lis. Qd. ; 
steerage, 10s. 6cZ. The cabin passengers are not under the necessity of 
taking provisions, as they are well accommodated on board with every- 
thing at the most moderate prices." 



106 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The " Waterloo'^ was soon transferred to the more important traffic 
between Liverpool and Dublin, where her success resulted in the em- 
ployment of more powerful steamers. 

This detailed account of so small a steamer may be pardoned when 
we consider that the ^' Waterloo" was the germ and pioneer of the 
magnificent steam fleet which now sails in and out of the port of Liv- 
erpool. It is no longer necessary to caution passengers they are not 
under the necessity of provisioning themselves. 

1817. — Herbert Lawrence, who died in 1882, aged ninety-four, 
built in 1817 the "Bolona," the first steamboat commanded by Corne- 
lius Vanderbiit. Her model is in the possession of his son, William 
H. "Vanderbiit. Mr. Lawrence remembered the trial trip of the 
" Clermont," and was thus a connecting link with the origin, gradual 
growth, and present state of steam navigation. 

i<5i7.— The " Firefly."— On Monday, the 26th of May, 1817, 
the "Firefly," Captain Smith, arrived at [N'ewport from New York. 
The sea was very rough as she rounded Point Judith, and she was 
twenty-eight hours in making the passage. She was intended to ply 
between Providence and Newport, and made her first trip to Provi- 
dence on the 28th, leaving Newport at 9 a.m. and reaching Providence 
about noon. A sloop brought news of the approaching steamboat, and 
long before noon the wharves were crowded with people awaiting the 
arrival of the strange craft. At last she came wheezing and pufling 
up the river to where the Crawford Street bridge now stands ; then, 
turning about, ran up to her wharf and made fast. A gentleman doing 
business in the Arcade in 1877 remembered being held aloft in his 
father's arms to see the boat come in. He described the "Firefly" as 
an ugly little thing, full of machinery and awkward in her motions. 
The people cheered, however, and shouted and looked her over as we 
would now inspect a balloon just arrived from St. Petersburg. 

June 28, the "Firefly," with Governor Knight, United States 
Marshal Dexter, and others on board, sailed at 7 A.M. for Newport, to 
meet and escort President Monroe to Providence. He went, however, 
in a revenue cutter to Bristol, where he embarked on the " Firefly," 
reaching Providence about 9 P.M. On landing he was received by a 
salute of cannon and the ringing of bells. The next day he proceeded 
to Boston. On the 26th of July the " Firefly" made a " cherry" excur- 
sion to Fall Piver, two dollars being the charge for the fare and dinner. 

The packet-masters resorted to every lawful means to break down 
the new enterprise. The " Firefly" was no match for a fast sloop with 
a favorable wind. She hoisted a huge square-sail when the wind was 
fair, but the packets would often come into port ahead. The packet 
captains even carried their opposition so far that they would stand upon 
the "Firefly's" wharf just before her hour of starting and offer to 
carry passengers to Newport for twenty-fiVe cents, or for nothing if 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 107 

they did not get there in advance of the " Firefly." In this way in 
four months they succeeded in running her off. 

Then the packetmen held a meeting on the packet wharf and de- 
nounced the interlopers in striking and powerful language, after which 
they adjourned to a convenient packet and drank confusion to steam- 
boats. Packets in those days furnished the best means of transporta- 
tion between Providence and New York. The sailing of a mail-packet 
for !N^ew York aroused more attention than is now paid to the departure 
of an ocean steamship. Passeugers came to the boat accompanied by 
relatives and friends. The master of the boat would bring out his 
stately decanters, and place a whole row of glasses on the mahogany 
table in the cabin. Then a solemn health would be drunk to the pros- 
perity of the voyage. 

The packets were beautifully modeled, sloop-rigged vessels of from 
seventy -five to one hundred tons burden, built with a view to speed, 
carrying capacity, and comfort. The sides of some were adorned with 
bead-work ; others had polished strips of hard pine let into the sides, 
and all were painted in gay and lively colors. The cabins were fre- 
quently finished and furnished with mahogany, and decorated in every 
imaginable way. These cabins averaged twelve feet square, and from 
them opened tiny state-rooms. 

Packets sailed from Providence for New York every week ; the trip 
was of varying length. The " Huntress" often came through in 
eighteen hours, but sometimes the voyage lasted a week. The fare 
was ten dollars, including meals. Over the cabin stairs hung a ma- 
hogany letter-box, and on arrival there would be a rush of people to 
the packet to get letters in advance of the slow mail plodding over the 
post-roads. As soon as the immediate business of landing was over the 
captain would pour the contents of the letter-box upon the mahogany 
table, and after the distribution of letters the decanters were produced 
and everybody drank the captain^s health. " Captain Whipple Brown, 
one morning, unloaded from his sloop seven hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars in silver. There were five thousand dollars in a keg, and kegs 
enough to load fifteen baggage-wagons, which before sunrise set out for 
Boston with two well-armed guards in charge of each wagon." ^ 

Seventeen large steamboats were, in 1817, in constant employment 
on American rivers besides ferry-boats. 

FIEST STEAMBOATS IN BOSTOX. 

1817. — The steamboat "Massachusetts," in 1817, introduced steam 
navigation to Boston early in June. She was owned by Joseph and 
John H. Andrews, William Fettyplace, Hon. Stephen White, and 
Andrew Watkins, of Salem, and Andrew Bell, of Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, and was intended to run between Salem and Boston. She 

1 Charles H. Dow's "History of Steam Navigation between New York and 
Providence, 1792-1877." 



108 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATIOK 

was of two hundred and thirty tons register, and had an engine of thirty 
horse-power. She made a few trips between Salem and Boston, but not 
being well patronized, in the autumn, or early in the winter, was sent 
south to Charleston or Savannah, to be sold, and was lost on the passage 
on the coast of North Carolina. On her arrival in Salem she was called 
by the Enterprise the " Brilliant North Star." She made her first trip 
from Salem to Boston July 4, 1817, leaving Salem at 8 a.m.; she ar- 
rived at Boston at 11 a.m., her greatest rate of speed being eight miles 
an hour. In consequence of some damage to her machinery she did 
not return to Salem on that day, and her passengers were sent back in 
coaches. The next day she made a trip to Hingham and returned, 
making the trip in two hours each way. The enterprise proved more 
than a total loss to her proprietors. There was a distrust in the public 
mind in relation to her, and many who cried out against her were 
thought to be influenced by the stage companies. 

The Boston Daily Advertiser, July 4, 1817, announced, ^' We un- 
derstand that the elegant steamboat ' Massachusetts' will be here this 
day at ten o'clock, and will take a few gentlemen and ladies for a few 
hours to sail about the islands in this harbor." This was beyond a 
doubt the first Fourth of July steamboat excursion in Boston harbor. 

She seems to have been supplanted, in 1818, by the ^' Eagle," which 
filled her place as an excursion boat. The " Eagle" ran from Nan- 
tucket to New Bedford for six months the same year. 

1818. — From a return made to the comptroller of New York, it 
appears that the tax upon steamboat passengers produced to that State 
during the years 1817 and 1818 was a net aggregate of ^37,620.18. 
The gross amount of the tax for these two years was $41,440. All 
passengers for over one hundred miles paid a tax of $1 each, and for 
under distances over thirty miles, half the sum ; under thirty miles, 
nothing. For every dollar collected by the State it was estimated that 
seven was received by the proprietors of the New York steamboats. 

1818. — One hundred and thirty-nine years after the launch of the 
first vessel, the '^ Griffin," of sixty tons, by La Salle, August 7, 1679, 
upon the Niagara Riyer, between the Falls and Lake Erie, steam navi- 
gation commenced on Lake Erie. The pioneer steamboat, called 
" Walk-in-the-Water," was launched at Black Rock on the 28th of 
May, 1818. 

In the Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser of April 27, 
1818, I find two advertisements of steamboats running to Philadel- 
phia, — one, of the Union Line of Steamboats via Frenchtown and 
New Castle, advertised by William McDonald & Son to start from the 
lower end of Bowly's wharf every evening at five o'clock ; the other, 
advertised by Briscoe & Partridge, leaving the same wharf at the same 
hour ; " the passengers, traveling over a good turnpike road from Elk- 
ton to Wilmington, will then take steamboats, and arrive in Philadel- 
phia in time for the boats which leave that place for New York." 



CHAPTER III.— 1819-1838. 

The Savannah, the First Ocean Steamship, 1819. — David]S'apier's Enterprise, 1819- 
22. — First Steamboats on the Missouri, 1819. — The Robert Fulton Steamship 
between New Orleans and New York, 1819. — Walk-in-the- Water, First 
Steamboat on Lake Erie, 1819. — First Steamboat on Lake Michigan, 1827. — 
First Ramsgate Steamboat, 1820. — First Steam-Yessels in the Eoyal Navy, 
1820-23. — French Officers sent to United States to inquire about Steam- 
Vessels, etc., 1820. — First Steamboat on the Indus, 1820. — First Sea-going 
Steamboat for Hull, England, 1821. — First Steamboat Excursion from New 
York to Providence, 1821. — First Steamboat Line between Providence and 
New York, 1822.— David Gordon's Patent for Boxing Paddle-Wheels, 1822. 
— Table of Comparative Voyages of Sailing- and Steam- Vessels, 1822. — 
Number of Steamboats on American Waters, 1823. — Captain de Lisle pro- 
poses Screws to be applied to French Ships of the Line, 1823. — Delangue, of 
Paris, patents a Screw, 1824. — Steamer Enterprise goes from London to Cal- 
cutta, 1825. — Jacob Perkins's Propeller, 1825. — Samuel Brown's Canal Tow- 
ing Company's Propeller, 1825. — Steamboat Speed on the Hudson, 1826. — 
Woodcroft's Screw, 1826. — Winter Steamboats between Philadelphia and New 
York, 1827.— The Atlas launched at Pvotterdam, 1828.— The Swift, First Steamer 
in Turkey, 1828.— The CuraQoa, 1828.— The Steam-Brig New York, 1826.— 
Patten's Screw ; Copley's Screw ; Pettier's Screw, 1830. — First Steamboats on 
the Danube, 1830. — Temperance Eesolutions of the Livingston Steam-Packet 
Company, 1829. — The Meteor, the First Ship of the Royal Navy to carry the 
Mails, 1830.— The Hugh Lindsay, First Steamer to navigate the Red Sea, 1830. 
Girard's Screw, 1831. — First Steamer to arrive at Chicago, 1831. — Woodcroft's 
Screw, 1832.— First Wrought-Iron Steamboat, 1832.— The Firebrand's Long 
Voyage, 1833.— First Vessel of the Royal Navy to West Indies, 1832.— Junius 
Smith, the Originator of Ocean Steam Navigation, 1832-38. — The Second 
Steamship to cross the Atlantic, 1832. — First Steamer on the Merrimac River, 
1834.— Smith's Screw, 1835.— Fitzpatrick's, 1835.— French Steamboats, 1836. 
— First Steamer to China, 1832. — An American Ironclad, 1836. — Commodore 
Barron's Ram, 1836. — Steam Tow-Boats introduced on the Delaware, 1836. — 
Steam-Vessels of Great Britain, 1836-37.— The Francis B. Ogden, Ericsson's 
First Practical Screw Steamer, 1836,— The Enterprise, 1839.— The Robert F. 
Stockton Screw, 1838-39. — Crossing the Atlantic under Sail. — The Princeton, 
First Screw War Steamer. — Smith's Screw Steamer Archimedes, 1836-38. — The 
Rattler, First English Screw War Steamer, 1843. — Austrian, Russian, and Hun- 
garian Steamers, 1837. — Dr. Lardner on Steam Navigation of the Atlantic, 
1887.— Steam-Vessels of the United States, 1838.— The Germ of the United 
States Navy, 1887. 

1819. — THE ^^SAVANXAH/^ the first OCEAN STEAMSHIP. 

This vessel — pronounced a myth by Mr. Woodcroft in his work on 
" Steam Navigation/^ and of which the London Illustrated Times for 
January 16, 1858, says it " is forced into the belief was merely an 
after-thought of the Americans/^ claiming that the " Rob Roy," a 
British steam-packet, between Glasgow and Belfast, was the first sea- 
going steamer — it can be easily shown was no myth, but a sea-going 

109 



110 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

steamer, which by the aid of sails and steam made the passage from 
New York to Liverpool in twenty-six days in 1819. 

The ''Savannah'' was built at Corlear's Hook, New York, by 
Crocker & Fickett. She was three hundred and eighty tons burden, 
and was launched on the 22d of August, 1818, and built to ply between 
New York and Liverpool as a sailing-packet. About the time of her 
launch, Captain Moses Rogers, then of Savannah, Georgia, suggested 
to Messrs. Dunning, Scarborough, Sturges, Burroughs, Henry, Mc- 
Kinna, and others of that city, the idea of constructing a steamer for 
plying between Savannah and Liverpool. They accordingly purchased 
this ship, just launched at Corlear's Hook, and well adapted for the 
purpose, and named her the "Savannah." They allowed the rigging 
and other appurtenances for sailing to remain, and supplied her with 
steam-machinery, and paddle-wheels, the latter constructed to fold up 
like a fan and to be laid upon deck when not in use, her shaft having 
also a joint for that purpose. The wheel-house was made of canvas 
extended on an iron rim. She made a trial voyage to Savannah in 
April, 1819, and arrived there from New York in seven days, after a 
boisterous passage, during which she had to take in her wheels several 
times and rely upon her sails. 

She left New York under canvas, and arrived at Savannah early 
in May, 1819. President Monroe was in Charleston, South Carolina, 
and Mr. Scarborough directed her to go there and give the President 
an invitation to come to Savannah on the steamship. The President 
declined, as the people of Charleston did not wish him to leave their 
State in a Georgia conveyance, but said he would meet her at Savannah. 
Therefore she returned to Savannah, and a few days after the President 
arrived and came on board with his suite, accompanied by Several naval 
officers and citizens. The vessel was controlled by steam, and pro- 
ceeded upon an excursion down the river. The President dined on 
board, and expressed himself greatly pleased with the vessel, and told 
Mr. Scarborough that when he returned from her trip across the 
Atlantic to bring the vessel to Washington, for he thought no doubt 
the government would purchase her, and employ her as a cruiser on 
the coast of Cuba. 

After her trial trip there was no doubt that the '' Savannah" would 
successfully accomplish the object for which she was purchased, and 
she sailed from Savannah for Liverpool May 26, 1819. The New 
York papers of the 2d of June notice her having been spoken at sea, 
all well. The log-book of the '' Pluto," which arrived at Baltimore 
from Bremen, contains the following passage : 

'^June 2, 1819. — Clear weather, smooth sea, latitude 42°, longitude 
50*^. Spoke and passed the elegant steamship eight days out from Sa- 
vannah to Petersburg, by way of Liverpool. She passed us at the 
rate of nine or ten knots, and the captain informed us she worked re- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. Ill 

markably well, and the greatest compliment we could bestow was to 
give her three cheers as the happiest effort of mechanical genius that 
ever appeared on the Western ocean.'' 

Niles's New York Register for the 21st of August contains this 
paragraph, italicized, at the head of its column of foreign news : " The 
steamship 'Savannah/ Captain Moses Rogers, the first that ever crossed 
the Atlantic, arrived at Liverpool in twenty-five days from Savannah, all 
well, to the great astonishment of the people at that place. She worked 
her engine eighteen days.^^ 

It is stated that " on the ' Savannah's' approach to Liverpool, with 
sails furled and American colors flying, the piers were thronged by- 
thousands, who greeted her arrival with vociferous cheers, and before 
she anchored her decks were so crowded it was with the greatest diffi- 
culty the crew could move about in the performance of their duty." 

The next record of her movements is that she sailed in August for 
St. Petersburg, passing Elsinore on the 13th, and that the British 
" wisely supposed her visit to be somehow connected with the ambitious 
views of the United States." 

She returned to Savannah early in November, 1819, after a passage 
of fifty-three days from St. Petersburg, via Copenhagen and Arendal, 
in Norway, in the language of Captain Kogers, " with neither a screw, 
nor bolt, nor rope-yarn parted, though she encountered a heavy gale in 
the North Sea." She left Savannah for Washington on the 4th of 
November, and lost her boats and anchors off Cape Hatteras. 

But for the war of 1812 the " Savannah" would have been antici- 
pated in her ocean voyage by a larger and superior vessel, built by a 
company for the Russian government. This vessel, the '' Emperor 
Alexander," was nearly ready for sea when her departure was prevented 
by the declaration of war in June, 1812. Under the name of the 
" Connecticut" she was known upon the waters of Long Island Sound, 
and later in her history was a weekly packet between Portland, Maine, 
and Boston, Massachusetts. 

If these statements do not satisfy the most doubting that the "Sa- 
vannah" was no myth or an after-thought of the Americans, these 
extracts from a petition to Congress, in 1856, by Mrs. Taylor, the 
daughter of her constructor, fortified by the sworn testimony of Cap- 
tain Rogers, must be conclusive. 

Mrs. Taylor says, " Your petitioner is the only surviving child of 
the late William Scarborough, of Savannah, Georgia, who, being an 
energetic and enterprising man of great mechanical genius, caused to 
be constructed in the years 1818-19, with his own means, and those of 
every friend he could enlist in the effort, the first steamer that ever 
crossed the Atlantic, ' The Savannah,' of Savannah, Georgia, Captain 
Moses Rogers, of New London, Connecticut, commanding." 

For the details of this voyage she refers to the sworn statement of 



112 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Captain Steven Rogers, the sailing-master, " and prays that they will 
grant her some pecuniary acknowledgment," etc. 

Captain Steven Rogers/ under date New London, Connecticut, 

^ Captain Steven Eogers, the sailing-master, died at New London, Connecti- 
cut, September, 1868, aged seventy-four years. The log-book of the " Savannah," 
containing the daily record of her memorable voyage, is in possession of his de- 
scendants. 

This valuable relic is made up of ninety-six pages of coarse paper, twelve inches 
wide and nineteen and a half long, browned with age, and with edges ragged from 
much handling. Only fifty-two pages are written on, the rest are blank. It is un- 
bound, but the sheets are sewed into an enveloping piece of sail-cloth, which is 
rudely hemmed at the upper and lower edges. This cloth cover bears the inscrip- 
tion, " Steamship ' Savannah's' Log-Book," ;^rinted in bold characters. The hand- 
writing is that of Steven Eogers, the sailing-master. Every word in the closely- 
written pages is legible, the ink being still black ; only a small portion of the entries 
have any present interest, the larger part being remarks on the weather, on the 
disposition of the ship's sails, and the results of the observations of latitude and 
longitude. 

The caption of the first page is as follows : 

" A Journal of a Voyage from New York towards Savannah on steamboat ''Sa- 
vannah ;'' Moses Rogers^ Master." 

This is continued on four pages ; the caption of the fifth is, — 

" A Half-Hour Journal on board steamship ' Savannah,' Moses Eogers, Master." 

And after a few pages this caption gives place to — 

" A Journal of a Voyage from Savannah towards Liverpool on board steamship 
' Savannah ;' Moses Eogers, Master." 

The caption afterwards changes several times, but the same formula is pre- 
served. 

The first entry in the log-book is — 

Sunday, March 28, 1819. — These 24 hours begin with fresh breezes at N. W. 
At 10 A.M. got under way for Sea with the crew on board. At 1 p.m. the Pilot left 
the Ship off Sandy hook light." 

After this entry the page is ruled on the left side into six. narrow columns, 
headed respectively, " H, K, HK [hours, knots, half-knots]. Course, Winds, LW 
[lee-way] ;" and then a longer space, headed, " Eemarks on board," with the ap- 
propriate date. 

The second entry is as follows : 

" Eemarks on board Monday, March 29, 1819. The 24 hours begin with fresh 
breezes^nd clear. At 4 p.m. the Highlands of Neversink bore N. b. W. 6 Leagues 
distant from which I take my departure. At 10 p.m. took in Topgallant Sails. At 
6 a.m. Set Topgallant Sails. At 8 a.m. Tacked Ship to the Westward. Saw a brig 
and Schooner Steering to the Westward. At 11 a.m. took in the Mizzen and Fore 
Topgallant Sails. At 11 a.m. got the Steam up and it coming on to blow fresh we 
took the Wheels in on deck in 30 minutes. At meridian fresh breezes and Cloudy. 
Lat. by Obs. 39° 19^." 

This is a fair sample of the daily records, extending over a period of nine 
months. 

The statement, "we took the wheels in on deck in thirty minutes," refers to 
the fact that this steamer was so constructed that, in case of boisterous weather, her 
paddle-wheels could be brought on deck. 

Land was sighted on June 16, being the coast of Ireland, and on the 17th the 
" Savannah" " was boarded by the King's Cutter ' Kite,' Lieutenant John Bowie." 

The log-book here, as elsewhere, is sternly brief. Fortunately, we have in 
Steven Eogers 's own words a fuller account of the amusing circumstances connected 
with this boarding of the "Savannah" by the king's cutter. In a communica- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 113 

May 2, 1856, swears that he is aged sixty-eight years; that he was the 
sailing-master of the steamship " Savannah" on her trial trip to Liver- 
pool, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, etc. '^ Said steamship ^vas built at 
the city of New York, in the year 1818, the builders being Fickett & 
Crocker. She was designed for a Havre packet, and was purchased by 
William Scarborough, of Savannah, and was named at his suggestion 
' The Savannah,' he having told me that in his opinion the ocean would 
be navigated by steam, and he intended his own State and city should 
have the credit of sending the first steamer across the Atlantic. Her 
castings were made in New York, and her boilers at Elizabethtown, 
New Jersey, by Daniel Dodge. She left New York under canvas, and 
arrived at Savannah in the early part of May, 1819. President Mon- 
roe was then in Charleston, South Carolina, and Mr. Scarborough di- 
rected us to go there and give the President an invitation to come to 
Savannah on the steamship. The President declined because the people 
of Charleston did not wish him to leave their State in a Georgia con- 
veyance, but said that he would visit us at Savannah. So we returned. 
A few days after we got back the President arrived, and came on board 
the vessel with his suite and several naval officers and citizens. The 
vessel was navigated by steam, and we proceeded down the river on an 

tion to the New London (Connecticnt) Gazette he said, "She [the steamer] was 
seen from the telegraph-station at Cape Clear, on the southern coast of Ireland, and 
reported as a ship on fire. The admiral, who lay in the Cove of Cork, dispatched 
one of the king's cutters to her relief. But great was their wonder at their inability, 
with all sail in a fast vessel, to come up with a ship under bare poles. After sev- 
eral shots were fired from the cutter, the engine was stopped, and the surprise of her 
crew at the mistake they had made, as well as their curiosity to see the singular 
Yankee craft, can be easily imagined. They asked permission to go on board, and 
were much gratified by the inspection of this naval novelty." 

Two days later (June 20) they " shipped the wheels, furled the sails, and ran 
into the Eiver Mersey, and at 6 p.m. come to anchor ofl" Liverpool with the small 
bower anchor." 

The London Times of June 21, 1819, has the following paragraph, credited to 
Marwade's Cotnmercial Repoy^t for that week : 

" Among the arrivals yesterday at this port we were particularly gratified and 
astonished by the novel sight of a fine steamship, which came round at 7J p.m. 
without the assistance of a single sheet, in a style which displayed the power and 
advantage of the application of steam to vessels of the largest size, being th^ee hun- 
dred and Jifty tons burden. She is called the 'Savannah,' Captain Kogers, and 
sailed from Savannah (Georgia, United States) the 26th of May, and arrived in 
the Channel five days since. During her passage she worked the engine eighteen 
days. Her model is beautiful, and the accommodations for passengers elegant and 
complete. She is the first ship on this construction that has undertaken a voyage 
across the Atlantic.'' 

The Times of June 30, 1819, says, " The ' Savannah' steam-vessel recently ar- 
rived at Liverpool /rom America — the first vessel of the kind that ever crossed the 
Atlantic — was chased a whole day off" the coast of Ireland by the ' Kite' revenue 
cruiser, on the Cork Station, which mistook her for a ship on fire." 

Lloyd's List reports the arrival of the " Savannah" at Liverpool on the 20th of 
June, 1819, bound to St. Petersburg; and in Gore's "Annals of Liverpool" this 
American steamer's arrival is recorded among "remarkable events." 



■-/ 



114 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

excursion. The President dined on board, and expressed himself 
greatly pleased with the vessel, and told Mr. Scarborough that when 
she came back from her trip across the Atlantic, to bring the vessel 
around to Washington, for he thought there was no doubt the govern- 
ment would purchase her, and employ her as a cruiser upon the coast 
of Cuba. 

"We sailed from Savannah for Liverpool on the 26th of May, 
1819. Moses Rogers, my brother-in-law, was master and engineer. I 
was sailing-master, and Mr. Blackman was third officer. We made 
the port of Liverpool in twenty-two days after leaving Savannah, four- 
teen of the twenty-two under steam. The only reason why the whole 
voyage was not performed by steam was the fear of the fuel giving out. 
Off Cape Clear, the admiral at Cork dispatched a ship to our relief, 
supposing we were on fire. At Liverpool we caused a great deal of ex- 
citement, and suspicion of having some design to release Xapoleon from 
St. Helena. From Liverpool we proceeded to Copenhagen, and from 
thence to Stockholm. At both places the * Savannah' excited great 
curiosity ; at the latter place she was visited by the royal family, our 
Minister, Mr. Hughes, and Lord Lyndoch. Lord L. went with us to 
St. Petersburg. On the passage he desired us to bring the vessel from 
steam to canvas. He held his watch and noted the time, fifteen min- 
utes. He was so delighted that he exclaimed, ^ I blame no man born 
in the United States for being proud of his country ; and were I a 
young man I'd go there myself The Emperor of Russia came on 
board at Cronstadt, and was much pleased with the vessel, and pre- 
sented Captain Rogers with two iron chairs (one of which is now in 
the garden of Mr. Dunning at Savannah)." 

Steven Rogers then states that he has in his possession a gold snuff- 
box presented to him by Lord Lyndoch, upon which is the following 
inscription : 

" Presented by Sir Thomas Gresham, Lord Lyndoch, to Steven 
Rogers, sailing-master of the steamship ^ Savannah,' at St. Petersburg, 
Oct. 10, 1819." 

He adds, " We sailed from St. Petersburg to Arendal in Norway, 
and from thence to Savannah, in twenty-five days, steaming on the 
passage nineteen days. We went from Savannah to Washington at the 
suggestion of President Monroe, but the government did not buy her. 
She was there sold at auction and converted into a packet." 

Captain Rogers says that Scarborough ruined himself by her, and 
died poor. While at St. Petersburg the " Savannah" was anchored 
opposite and six miles from the city. After being used for a time as 
a sailing-packet between New York and Savannah, the '' Savannah" 
went ashore on Long Island and was broken up. 

These notices of the " Savannah" are from the newspapers of the 
day: 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 115 

" By an advertisement in this day's paper it will be seen that the 
new and elegant steamship ^ Savannah' is to leave her harbor to-mor- 
row. Who would have had the courage twenty years ago to hazard a 
prediction that in the year 1819 a ship of three hundred tons burden 
would be built in the port of New York to navigate the Atlantic pro- 
pelled by steam ? Such, however, is the fact. With admiring hun- 
dreds have we repeatedly viewed this prodigy, and can also bear wit- 
ness to the wonderful celerity with which she is moved through the 
water. On Monday last a trial was made of her speed, and although 
there was at no time more than an inch of steam upon her, and for the 
greater part not half an inoh, with a strong wind and tide ahead, she 
went within a mile of the anchoring ground at Staten Island, and re- 
turned to Fly-Market wharf in one hour and fifty minutes. When it 
is considered that she is calculated to bear, twenty inches of steam, and 
that her machinery is entirely new, it must be evident that she will 
with ease pass any of the steamboats upon our rivers. Her cabin is 
finished in an elegant style, and is fitted up in the most tasty manner. 
There are thirty-two berths, all of which are state-rooms. The cabin 
for ladies is entirely distinct from that intended for gentlemen, and is 
admirably calculated to afiPord that perfect retirement which is so rarely 
found on board of passenger ships." ^ 

" The elegant steamship ^ Savannah' arrived here about five o'clock 
yesterday evening. The bank of the river was lined by a large con- 
course of citizens, who saluted her with shouts during her progress 
before the city. She was also saluted by a discharge from the revenue 
cutter ^Dallas.' Her appearance inspires instant confidence in her 
security. It is evident that her wheels can be unshipped in a few 
minutes, so as to place her precisely in the condition of any other 
vessel, in case of a storm and rough sea. Our city will be indebted to 
the enterprise of her owners for the honor of first crossing the Atlantic 
Ocean in a vessel propelled by steam." ^ 

" We are requested to state that the steamship ' Savannah,' Captain 
Kogers, will without fail proceed to Liverpool direct to-morrow, 20th 
instant. Passengers, if any offer, can be well accommodated." ^ 

"Captain Livingston, of the schooner ^Contract,' who arrived at 
Newbury port on the 5th instant, sighted on the 29th of May, latitude 
27.30, longitude 70, a vessel ahead to eastward, from which he saw 
volumes of smoke issuing. Judging it to be a vessel on fire, stood for 
her, in order to afford relief; ^ but' (observes Captain Livingston) ^ found 
she went faster with fire and smoke than we possibly could with all 
sail set. It was then we discovered that what we supposed a vessel on 
fire was nothing less than a steamboat crossing the Western Ocean, 

^ New York Mercantile Advertiser^ March 27, 1819. 
2 Savannah Georgian^ Wednesday, April 7, 1819. 
^ Georgian^ Wednesday, May 19, 1819. 



116 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

laying her course, as we judge, for Europe; a proud monument of 
Yankee skill and enterprise. Success to her.' '' ^ 

^^ Norfolk, August 10. — ... I have received no shipping list by 
this arrival, but an article of great importance in the steam world (if 
I may use the expression) is contained in the Cork paper of the 19th 
of June. It is no less than the arrival at Kinsale, in twenty-one days, 
of the steamship ^Savannah,' from Savannah, laden with cotton ai;id 
passengers. She put in for supplies, would remain a day or two, and 
then proceed for Liverpool. Previous to her putting in she was 
chased by a cutter under the impression that she was a ship on fire. 
No further particulars are stated/' ^ 

1819. — The model of the first canal-boat on the Erie Canal exists 
at the Historical Society Rooms in Buffalo. It is about two feet long, 
sharp at either end, and is flat-bottomed. There are cabins at each 
end, between which are the gangways. It is a faithful and accurate 
copy of the ^^ Chief Engineer of Rome,'' the first canal-boat that was 
built to navigate old Erie. The following card of explanation says 
the " Chief Engineer of Rome" was the first boat built for the Erie 
Canal, of which the trial trip was made October 23, 1819. Governor 
De Witt Clinton, the canal commissioners, and chief and assistant 
engineers, other State ofiicers and guests, with ladies and gentlemen of 
Utica, Whitesboro', Oriskany, and Rome, in all about sixty or seventy 
persons, made up the party. The boat was named in compliment to 
Benjamin Wright, the chief engineer of the Erie Canal. The model, 
without the forward and middle cabins, was brought from England in 
the early part of 1817 by Canvass White, then assistant engineer to 
Mr. Wright, subsequently a distinguished engineer. The model was 
presented to the Society to which it now belongs, in February, 1867, 
by William C. Young, a rodman of the Erie surveys of 1816-17, a 
kinsman of the Whites of Whitesboro', in which family the original 
model-boat has been kept for years. 

1819. — Great Britain owes to David Napier the establishment of 
deep-sea communications by steam-vessels, and of post-office steam- 
packets, at about the same date as the adventurous voyage of the 
" Savannah." Previous to his enterprise steam-vessels rarely ventured, 
and only in fine weather, beyond the precincts of rivers and coasts of 
firths. Soon after the introduction of steam on the river Clyde he 
entertained the idea of establishing steam communication on the open 
sea, and as a first step endeavored to ascertain the difficulties to be 
encountered. For this purpose he took passage, at a stormy period of 
the year, on a sailing-packet which formed one of a line and the only 
means of intercourse between Glasgow and Belfast, a passage which 
required a week to accomplish what is now done by steam in nine 
hours. The captain of the packet found a young man, whom he after- 

1 Georgian, Thursday, June 24, 1819. ^ Charlotte City Gazette. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 117 

wards knew as Mr. Napier, during one of his winter passages to 
Belfast, constantly perched on the bow of the vessel, fixing an intent 
gaze on the sea when it broke on the side of the ship, quite heedless 
of the waves and spray that washed over him. He only ceased from 
this occupation at intervals as the breeze freshened to ask the captain 
whether the sea was such that might be considered a rough one, and 
when told that it was by no means unusually rough, he returned to 
the bow of the vessel and resumed his study of the waves breaking at 
her stem. When the breeze began to freshen into a gale, and the sea 
to rise considerably, he again inquired of the captain whether the sea 
might now be considered a rough one, and was told that as yet it could 
not be called very rough. Disappointed, he returned again to his 
station at the bow and resumed his employment. At last he was 
favored with a storm to his contentment, and when the seas, breaking 
over the vessel, swept her from stem to stern, he found his way back 
to the captain and repeated his inquiry, '^ Do you call it rough now ?" 
The captain replied " he could not remember to have faced a worse 
night in the whole of his experience," which delighted young Napier, 
who muttering as he turned away, " I think I can manage, if that be 
all," went down to his cabin. Napier saw then the end of his diffi- 
culties, and soon satisfied himself as to the means of overcoming them. 
His next inquiry was as to the means of getting through the water 
with least resistance. To determine this, he commenced a series of ex- 
periments with models of vessels in a small tank of water, and soon 
found that the round full bluff bow adopted for sailing-vessels was 
quite unsuited for speed with mechanical propulsion of a different 
nature. This led him to adopt the fine, wedge-like entrance by which 
the vessels built under his superintendence were afterwards so distin- 
guished. 

In 1818 he established a regular steam communication between 
Greenock and Belfast by means of the " Kob Roy," a vessel of about 
ninety tons burden and thirty horse-power. She plied two winters 
between those ports with regularity and success, and after wards-was 
transferred to the English Channel as a packet between Dover and 
Calais. Having thus acquired steam navigation dominion of the open 
sea, Mr. Napier was not slow to extend it. 

In 1819 the Messrs. Wood built for him the " Talbot," of one hun- 
dred and fifty tons, with two of Mr. Napier's engines, each of thirty 
horse-power, the most perfect vessel of her day in all respects, and a 
model which was long in being surpassed. The '^ Talbot" plied between 
Holyhead and Dublin, and conferred on Ireland the advantage of a 
direct, certain, and rapid communication with England. 

Napier, in 1822, introduced surface condensers on board the " Post 
Boy," a steam- vessel built by him. The condenser consisted of a series 
of small copper tubes, through which steam passed towards the air- 



118 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

pump. By a constant current of cold water encircling the pipes the 
steam was cooled and returned into water, which was again returned 
into the boiler for conversion into steam, without being mixed with the 
cold salt water, which in the ordinary plan was injected into the con- 
denser. The rapidity of condensation was found insufficient, and he 
returned to the old system for condensation. Years afterwards he re- 
turned to this system, in circumstances which rendered it desirable, and, 
using flat plates instead of tubes, was more successful, and plied for 
years with no other condenser. In 1826 the first of the so-called levia- 
than class of steamers, the " United Kingdom," was built for the trade 
between London and Edinburgh. She was of one hundred and sixty 
feet long, with twenty-six and one-half feet beam, and engines of two 
hundred horse-power, built by David Napier. She was considered the 
wonder of the day, and people flocked from all quarters to inspect and 
admire her. 

1819. — The first steamboats to ascend the Missouri were three little 
government boats in 1819. A party of engineers and naturalists kept 
along near them on shore. The Pawnees pilfered the horses, provisions, 
and apparatus of the unfortunate savants, and left them to wander, 
hungry and half naked, till they found refuge among the friendly Kaws. 
These steamers stemmed the current with difficulty, and were delayed 
by sand-bars ; for this was before steamboats were educated up to walk- 
ing off on their spars as a boy walks on his stilts ; and on their return 
they dropped down river stern foremost, as they were more manageable 
in that position. One of the first boats to ascend the Missouri carried 
the figure-head of a serpent at her prow. Through this reptile's mouth 
steam escaped, and the savages when they saw it fled in alarm, fancying 
the spirit of evil was coming bodily to devour them. 

FIRST STEAMER BETWEEN NEW YORK AND HAVANA. 

In 1819 a vessel of seven hundred tons, named the "Robert Ful- 
ton," ship-rigged, but furnished with a steam-engine, was built at New 
York, to ply as a packet between New York, Charleston, Cuba, and 
New Orleans. She performed her voyage over that long route with 
great regularity in nine days, and continued running on it over three 
years. So far as safety and speed were concerned she was successful ; 
but she did not defray expenses, and was sold to the Brazilian govern- 
ment, when her engine was removed, and she was converted into a 
cruiser. As late as 1838 she was in the Brazilian service. 

The " Walk-in-the-Water," the only steamboat on Lake Erie in 
1819, was considered sufficient to transact the commercial business of 
that lake. This boat, named after a Wyandotte chief, made her first 
trip to the island of Mackinaw in the summer of 1819. There was 
no one to furnish her with a cargo except the American Fur Company. 

In 1827 the waters of Lake Michigan were first plowed by steam, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



119 



a boat having made an excursion to Green Bay ; and in 1832 another 
steamboat reached Chicago with troops, that site being in course of 
clearance and settlement. In 1840 forty-eight boats were trading be- 
tween Buffalo^ Chicago, and other ports west of Detroit, the trip occu- 
pying fifteen days. 

In 1820 the first steam-vessel was prepared for Ramsgate, and was 
called the ^' Eagle." She had two of Bolton & Watt's engines, equal 
to forty horse-power. She was in existence in 1850, and used by the 
King of Denmark as his steam-yacht. If a sailing-packet prior to 
the advent of steam conveyed to or from London and Ramsgate eight 
hundred passengers a month it was something extraordinary. Yet in 
November, 1850, the ^' City of London,'^ steam-packet, convey,ed five 
thousand three hundred and fifty-six persons. 

1830-23,— ThQ "Comet," " Lightning," and " Meteor" were the 
first steam-vessels that ever appeared in the British navy, and the 
" Comet" was the first that ever carried a pennant. 

These sister vessels were constructed by Oliver Lang, then an as- 
sistant surveyor of the navy, in the year 1820, the three surveyors in 
office having refused to take the responsihility of constructing a steam- 
vessel for sea service ! They were built at Deptford, in about three 
years, from Mr. Lang's drawings and plans of fittings, without the 
interference of any one, and solely under his direction and personal 
superintendence. 

The following was the Admiralty return of their dimensions to the 
House of Commons, in answer to the inquiry of Rear- Admiral Sir 
Charles Napier, in 1846 : 



Name. 


1 Guns. 


Length. 


Breadth. 


Depth. 


Class. 


Horse-Power. 


Engine. 




1 


Teet. 


Ft. In. 


Ft. In. 








Comet . . 


. 1 3 


115 


21 3 


11 11 


Paddle 


80 


Bolton & Watt's 
1 side lever. 


Lightning . 


. ' 3 


126 


22 8 


13 8 


(( 


100 


u 


Meteor . . 


• 1 ^ 


126 


22 8 


13 8 


(( 


100 


u 



The first iron steamboat ever built was constructed in 1820 at the 
Horsley Iron-Works. She was called the " Aaron Manby," after her 
projector. She was built in sections and put together in London, and 
was the first vessel that ever went direct from Loudon to Paris. 

In 1820 there was only one small steamboat on Lake Erie. In 
1831, eleven steamboats, with an aggregate capacity of two thousand 
two hundred and sixty tons. In 1836, forty-five steamboats, of nine 
thousand one hundred and nineteen tons. In 1847, sixty-seven side- 
wheel steamers and twenty-six screw steamers. 

In 1822, Messrs. Wood built on the Clyde the ''James Watt," to 
ply between Leith and London. She measured four hundred and 



120 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATIOK 

forty-eight tons and carried two engines of fifty horse-power each 
roade by Bolton & Watt, under the superintendence of Mr. Brown, 
one of the firm. The '^ James Watt" was remarkable for having its 
paddles moved through the interposition of toothed wheels, and not 
directly by the engine ; so that the revolution of the axis of the engine 
was greater than that of the paddles. With the exception of the low 
proportion of power to tonnage, the " James Watt" possessed nearly 
all the qualities of the most improved vessels of a quarter of a century 
later. 

FIRST STEAMBOATS OX THE INDUS. 

18W, — A small steamboat christened the " Snake" was built in 
Bombay in 1820, and was the first steam-vessel on the Indus, and, in 
fact, on any river in India. Her engines were designed and built by 
a Parsee, and were the first ever manufactured in India. How well 
they were constructed is evidenced by their lasting powers. She was 
twice wrecked, — once in a hurricane in 1837, and again in a cyclone in 
1854. She was employed during the first British Burmese w^ar and 
on the expedition to the Persian Gulf from 1823 to 1826, in the 
Chinese war of 1841-42, Burmese war of 1852, Persian war of 1856, 
mutiny of 1857, Chinese expedition of 1859, etc. She in her day 
carried most of the notables that arrived in India via Bombay, and 
closed her eventful career of sixty years in 1880, when she was broken 
up. 

The "Falcon" in 1820 used steam during part of her voyage from 
England to India. 

A steamboat was launched at Potsdam in 1820, larger than any 
yet built in Europe. It was two hundred feet long and forty-four 
feet wide, had two engines of twenty horse-power each, and was named 
The " Blucher" with great ceremony.^ 

Impressed with the importance of having steam ships of war as 
early as 1820, the French government sent two officers to America, 
Captain Mongery, of the navy, and M. Marestier, of the corps of 
marine engineers, to ascertain and report upon the properties of the 
steam-vessels of the United States, and their report was printed. 

In 1820-21 an unsuccessful attempt was made by Boston ship 
merchants to establish steam towage on the rivers of South Carolina. 
A company was formed with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, 
and afterwards increased. A steamboat called the " Patent" and tow- 
ing-barges were built and sent out to ply on the Pedee and Santee 
Rivers, but, as appears by a letter to Thomas H. Perkins, Esq., from 
John L. Sullivan, dated Troy, January 1, 1823, the enterprise resulted 
in the loss of the capital invested and its abandonment. It is worthy 
of note only as showing that thus early an attempt was made to in- 

^ Literary Gazette, February, 1820. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 121 

augurate steam navigation on the rivers of the Southern Atlantic 
coast of the United States. 

1821. — The first sea-going steamboat sent out from Hull, England, 
was in 1821, and is reputed to be the first sea-going steamboat on the 
east coast of England. In 1854 the sea-going steamers connected with 
Hull had an aggregate tonnage of nine thousand one hundred and 
thirty-nine, and the river-boats two thousand two hundred and eighteen 
tons ; other steamboats coming to and departing from Hull had a burden 
of five thousand nine hundred and nine tons ; altogether there were 
eighty steamers trading with Hull, fifteen of which were screws. 

In 1821 there was an excursion from New York to Providence in 
the steamboat " Robert Fulton," ^ the first of its kind. The Manu- 
facturers' and Farmers' Journal of August 27, 1821, has the following 
notice of the event : 

" The ' Robert Fulton' left New York Thursday afternoon at five 
o'clock, and arrived below at nine Saturday morning. As soon as the 
tide would permit she came up to town, where she was the admiration 
of crowds of visitors. She brought eighty passengers, among whom 
was the Hon. John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, who immediately 
proceeded to Boston by land. At two o'clock the ^ Fulton' departed on 
her return to New York." 

The journal of one of the passengers supplies further particulars of 
this interesting trip. He says, — 

" On Friday, at a quarter before 8' p.m., we ranged alongside of the 
dock at Newport, music playing as we entered the harbor and passed 
he fortified island. Such a scene of tumult as was here witnessed I 
never saw before. The wharves were lined with people of all ages and 
conditions, who pressed forward and immediately on our landing took 
complete possession of the ship. The band and many of the passen- 
gers went on shore, and Governor Gibbs and some of the principal 
families in town were serenaded. When the party returned to the ship 
they were scarcely able to get on board, and the tumult lasted until one 
o'clock in the morning. 

"We started at 5 a.m. next day for Providence. As we ap- 
proached the scene became truly interesting. The inhabitants had 
anticipated our arrival, and every hill was covered with an admiring 
assemblage. India Point wharf presented a spectacle singular and 
gratifying. The beauty and fashion of this charming town greeted us 
with cheers and welcoming. At 7.45 we came up to the dock and 
landed the company, and here again numerous parties of ladies and 
gentlemen crowded the ship. The masts and rigging of the vessels 
lying in the vicinity were covered with spectators, and nothing could 
exceed the interest and gratification with which all appeared to greet 

1 This was not the New York and Havana packet already mentioned, but a 
steam-vessel of the same name built exclusively to navigate Long Island Sound. 



122 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

our arrival. At 3 p.m. the ' Fulton' left the wharf amid the shouts 
of thousands. 

" We arrived at Bristol at half-past 5 p.m., where we were met with 
the same spirit of enthusiasm which had characterized our whole route. 
Mr. De Wolfe's elegant mansion was thrown open to the visits of the 
passengers, and was much admired. We arrived at Newport at 8 p.m. 
It was quite dark, but the interest appeared to have increased rather 
than diminished. I took a station at the gangway to assist the inhabi- 
tantSj and particularly the ladies, on board the ship, — notice having 
been given that none but ladies would be allowed on board at first, — 
and in the short space of twenty minutes I handed in three hundred 
and thirty-seven. I found that this number did not appear to have 
thinned the crowd in the least degree, and by nine o'clock there must 
have been on board upward of six hundred ladies." 

EARLY steamboats ON LONG ISLAND SOUND. 

After the " Fulton" steamed away, no steamboats came from Provi- 
dence until the 6th of June, 1822, when the " Connecticut," Captain 
Bunker, arrived from New York. 

On the 12th of July, of this year, a company was formed, called 
the ^' Rhode Island and New York Steamboat Company," and regular 
trips, twice a week, were begun between the two cities by the " Fulton" 
and " Connecticut." 

The New York Legislature had granted great privileges to the 
Livingston and Fulton Steam Navigation Company. No steam-vessel 
could navigate New York Bay, the North River, Long Island Sound, 
or any of the lakes and rivers of the State of New York without their 
license. The Connecticut Legislature antagonistically enacted " no 
vessel bearing such a license should enter any water within that State." 
The *^ Connecticut" was running at this time between New York and 
New Haven in opposition to the packet lines. Through the influence 
of the packet-owners the Legislature of Connecticut passed a prohibi- 
tory law, and the "Fulton" and "Connecticut," running between New 
York and New London, were driven from Connecticut ports. 

The Providence Journal^ June 3, 1822, copies from the New York 
Mercantile Advertiser the announcement that steam communication be- 
tween New York and New Haven had ceased, and states that the 
" Fulton" and " Connecticut" had sailed for some point in Rhode 
Island. June 6 the arrival of the Connecticut was announced in the 
"marine news," and July 12 the "Fulton," Captain Law, arrived at 
Providence from Pawcatuck. The same day the " Connecticut," Cap- 
tain Elihu S. Bunker, and " Fulton" began regular trips between 
Providence and New York, touching at Newport. The fare between 
Providence and New York was ten dollars ; between Newport and New 
York nine dollars. The first advertisement of this company appeared 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 123 

under the cut of a man-of-war with port-holes open and every sail set, — 
in a few weeks a steamboat cut was procured, and then the advertise- 
ment announced that 

" From New York a boat will depart on Wednesday and Saturday 
at 4 o'clock P.M., and 

" From Providence a boat will depart on Wednesday and Saturday 
at 6 o'clock A.M." 

The " Fulton" and " Connecticut" continued their weekly trips 
through the season, and thus was inaugurated the steamboat trade be- 
tween Providence and New York. The log of the first trip of the 
" Connecticut" is in substance : " Left New York on the 4th at 4 p.m. ; 
was detained at Sandy Point 8J hours by easterly winds ; on the 5th 
continued our voyage, and arrived off Fisher's Island at 8 p.m. Lay 
to 3 hours ; doubled Point Judith at 2 a.m. ; touched at Newport, and 
arrived at Providence at 8 a.m. on the morning of the 6th of June." 
During the autumn of 1822 the amount of travel and rate of speed 
between New York and Newport were: September 13, "Fulton," 27 
hours from New York, 40 passengers ; October 4, ^' Connecticut," 32 
hours, 40 passengers ; October 6, " Fulton," 24 hours, 26 passengers ; 
October 10, "Connecticut," 18 hours, 35 passengers. The "Fulton" 
withdrew for the winter November 16, but the " Connecticut" was con- 
tinued on the line, making one trip per week until the navigation was 
closed by the ice. The following announcement reads queerly now : 

" The * Connecticut' will leave Providence every Tuesday evening 
to go down the river, in order to start from Newport at an early hour 
on Wednesday morning. It will therefore be necessary for the passengers 
to be on board at Providence at ten in the evening.^' 

The " Connecticut" and " Fulton" were owned in New York. 
The " Connecticut" was one hundred and fifty feet long, twenty-six 
feet, wide, and of about two hundred tons burden. Her color was 
white, with green trimmings. She had a square engine, and cost eighty 
thousand dollars.^ The " Fulton" was the first steamboat built ex- 
pressly to navigate Long Island Sound. She was enormously strong, 
but had little less machinery than is now put in a cotton-mill. Her 
wheels were turned through a cog-wheel with teeth five inches long. 
She made a terrific noise when in motion, but moved so slowly that 
she was once five hours going from Providence to Newport. Her color 
was black, and she had sails to help the steam. Her captain once told • 
with glee he had come all the way from New York without hoisting 
his sails. 

Neither boat had upper saloon, state-rooms, or hurricane-deck. 
Both boats burned pine wood under large copper boilers, which were 
kept polished to the last degree of brightness. The wood necessary to 
keep the steam up during the trip between Providence and New York 

^ She afterwards ran between Portland, Maine, and Boston, Massscliusetts. 



124 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

was piled everywhere, fore and aft, and high above the guards. But 
little freight was carried, as the wood took up nearly all the room. 
When, years afterwards, coal was introduced, iron boilers were sub- 
stituted, and the old copper boilers paid for the new iron ones. 

In the spring of 1823 the " Connecticut'^ and " Fulton" resumed 
their trips. The " Fulton" had been overhauled and improved, so that 
she was nearly as fast as the " Connecticut." She made her first trip 
to Providence on the 12th of May, 1823, and brought fifty passengers. 
When near Field's Point one of her boilers was discovered to be ^^ par- 
tially ruptured." The fires were hauled and the boat anchored all 
night. In the morning she was taken to Providence, and five days 
afterwards was again on the line. 

No sooner was the line again in operation than the packetmen caused 
to be introduced in the General Assembly of Rhode Island a Prohibitory 
Bill, which restricted the landing of steamboat passengers on Rhode 
Island soil, and a bill imposing a tax of fifty cents upon each passenger 
by steamboat. The tax bill passed the Senate, but was rejected by the 
House, the measure being decided unconstitutional. Consideration of 
the other bill was indefinitely postponed. 

During the season of 1823 the "Connecticut" and "Fulton" made 
regular trips between Providence and New York, leaving Providence 
Wednesdays and Saturdays at 6 A.M., and New York Wednesdays and 
Saturdays at 4 p.m. The advertisement announcing this programme 
concludes with the remark, " Travelers are requested to read the above 
notice right." 

As the " Connecticut" approached Nyaot Point one June morning 
in 1823, two skiffs were observed making for the steamer. The occu- 
pants seemed to signal the vessel to stop, and such interest was aroused 
that Captain Bunker steered towards the foremost skiff and hailed her. 
There was returned no answer, but from the rear boat came oaths and 
shouts from which those on the steamer gathered that the occupants of 
the foremost boat were runaways in pursuit of some Gretna Green. 
As their boat came within a few yards of the steamer a young man 
looked up and said, " Will you take us on board, sir ?" An enthusiastic 
response from the passengers, and a score of hands lent their aid. 
Captain Bunker seemed unconscious of what was going on, but tradi- 
tion says that the instant the young man's feet touched the deck of the 
steamer the engineer received an order to " go aheadJ^ with a sudden- 
ness that took away his breath ; and in a very few seconds a wide 
stretch of water lay between the steamer and the empty boat. 

The following table exhibits the average and comparative length of 
the voyages of steam- and sailing-vessels between British ports and 
those of surrounding seas, as reported to the British Parliament in 
June, 1822 : 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



125 





i £ 


"3 
i 


s's 




■1 
1 £ 


1 


" S 


Poets. 


P 


> 

a 


11 

ft . 


Poets. 


>| 




li 




1 


1 • 






m 


1 




Holyhead to Dublin . . 


8 


70 hours 


55 


Brighton to Dieppe . . 


9 


30 hours 


73 


Pt. Patrick to Donaghadee 


3 


8 " 


19J 


Southampton to Havre 


15 


36 " 


120 


London to Leitli .... 


55 


5 days 


429 


" Guernsey 


16 


37 " 


125 


" Dublin . . . 


84 


16 " 


610 


Jlilford to Waterford . 


11 


25 " 


81 


Dublin to Liverpool . . 


14 


36 hours 


131 


Greenock to Belfast . . 


13 


30 " 


90 


Greenock to Liverpool . 


24 


13 days 


224 


i " to Glasgow, up . 


3 


'I :;} 


24 


London Bridge to Calais 


12 


36 hours 


120 


" " " down 


2i 


London to Margate . . . 


8 


20 " 


84 


" " Dublin .... 


25 


52 " 


200 


" " Plymouth . . 


38 


10 days 


315 


" "Ayr 


6 


12 " 


48 


" Belfast . . . 


110 


18 " 


725 


" " Largo .... 


2 


4 " 


18 


" Ostend . . . 


12 


24 hours 


90 


" " Port Patrick . 


9 


20 " 


90 


" " Texel .... 


22 


54 " 


170 


" " Isle of Man , , 


18 


40 " 


135 


" " Scarborough 


25 


68 " 


225 


1 " " Cambeltown . 


16 


18 " 


67 


" " Portsmouth . 


29 


8 days 


255 


' Edinburgh to Aberdeen 


12 


25 " 


90 


" " Hull .... 


23 


50 hours 


215 


" Sterling . 


4 


8 " 


36 



1823. — In 1823 there were about three hundred steamboats on 
American waters. 

Between 1813 and 1823 one hundred and sixty steam-vessels were 
launched in England, varying all the way from nine to five hundred 
and ten tons in size, and from three horse-power to one hundred and 
twenty. The largest of these, the ^' Soho,'^ was of smaller dimensions 
than the American steamboat ^' Chancellor Livingston," of five hun- 
dred and twenty tons, plying on the Hudson River between New York 
and Albany, and she was surpassed by the " Lady Sherbrooke," of 
seven hundred and eighty-seven tons, the largest then plying upon the 
St. Lawrence. 

In 1822, David Gordon, of London, obtained a patent for certain 
improvements and additions to steam-packets applicable to naval and 
marine purposes, which consisted in boxing the paddle-wheels, or in- 
closing them in a case, by which plan the vessel can be easily made 
proof against shot. 

In 1823, Captain Delisle addressed a letter to the French Minister 
of Marine, in which he proposed applying to ships of the line four 
screws of five arms each, of which two were to be placed in the bow 
and two in the stern of the ship. He gave the proportions of the 
length of the furrow of the screw to its diameter at 1.85. He also 
gave plans for raising the screws out of water and unshipping them 
while immersed, — that it might not impede the vessel while under sail. 

Wickoff in his " Reminiscences of an Idler'^ mentions in 1823 
that "a steamboat nicknamed ^Old SaP ran daily in summer from 
Philadelphia to Bristol, some twenty miles, a distance which was usu- 
ally accomplished in three hours," and that " a sensation was created 
in Philadelphia when a steamboat appeared called the ^ Trenton' that 
ran to Borden town, some twenty -six miles, in two hours and a half." 
Passengers then took stages to New Brunswick, when another steam- 
boat carried them to New York. ^' With luck tlie journey was per- 



126 HISTORY OF SIEAM NAVIGATION. 

formed in twelve hours, but terrible work it was in the heat of sum- 
mer. In winter the only route to New York was by land, the rivers 
being closed with ice/' 

182^. — Early Steamboats in Maine. — The first advertisement 
or notice of a steamboat in Maine is found in the Portland Argus^ 
August 13, 1822, viz.: 

" The steamboat ^ Kennebec' will leave Union wharf at four 
o'clock for North Yarmouth to spend the day. Will return on Thurs- 
day to take passengers to the Island as usual. If required, will stop 
at Week's wharf to receive and land passengers. Will also, should 
sufficient number of passengers apply, go to Commencement the day 
preceding, and also on the day of Commencement. For tickets apply 
to Mr. A. W. Tinkham's store." 

Lewis Pease, constable and bank messenger and local poet, records 
her advent thus : 

^ " A fig for all your clumsy craft, 

Your pleasure boats and packets, 
The Steamboat lands you safe and soon, 
At Mansfield's, Trott's, or Bracket's." 

This pioneer boat was the old hull of a flat-bottomed craft, in which 
Captain Seward Porter, the father of steam navigation in Maine, had 
placed a small, imperfect engine for excursions in the bay. His enter- 
prise was so successful that two years later we find the following notice 
in the Portland Argus of July 8, 1824 : 

'^The steamboat 'Patent,' Captain Seward Porter, arrived here 
yesterday, in four days from New York, having touched at a number 
of places to land passengers. She is intended to ply between this 
place and Boston, is strong and commodious, and elegantly fitted for 
passengers. Her engine has been proved, is of superior workmanship, 
and propels the boat about ten miles an hour. From the perseverance 
of Captain Porter we have no doubt but he will meet with good en- 
couragement and find it profitable. We wish him success." 

In a report made to the stockholders she is described as of two 
hundred tons and as costing twenty thousand dollars. She had one 
mast, and a staff at her stern, from which was displayed the stars and 
stripes, a flag which, in 1832, was in the possession of Hod. William 
Gould, of Windham, Maine, to whom it was presented by Captain 
Porter in 1831. 

The " Patent" was low and without a hurricane-deck ; her boiler 
and engine were below, and she had a heavy balance-wheel half above 
the deck, and an arrangement by which the paddle-wheels could be 
disconnected. It was said her engine had been built for a vessel to go 
to Russia (?). Her cabins were all below. The ladies' cabin was at 
the stern, but had no skylights on deck ; the entrance to it was through 
the gentlemen's cabin. The stern broad quarter-deck was clear with 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 127 

seats all around it. In the Boston Courier of August 12, 1824, her 
arrival on the 8th is noticed from Portland in seventeen and a half 
hours against a head wind with seventeen passengers. 

In 1824 a small boat was built at Bath called the ^^ Waterville/' to 
run on the Kennebec River. 

In 1825 the "Maine," built of the hulls of two schooners, with 
beams across, was fitted out in Bath. She was of one hundred and 
five tons, and cost thirteen thousand dollars. The fare between Boston 
and Portland, with meals, was $5.00 ; to Bath, $6.00 ; Augusta, $7.00 ; 
and Eastport, $11.00. 

1826. — The steam-brig " New York'' was running on the coast 
in 1826, and was lost three years after. A short time previous to her 
loss she had been purchased by Mr. Bartlett, of Eastport, and fitted 
with new machinery, etc., running regularly between Boston, Portland, 
Bath, and other ports on the coast, and while on a trip, and near OwFs 
Head, came in collision with another steamboat and the next day took 
fire. We learn from the statement of a passenger : 

" Nothing material occurred until she ran on shore going up the 
Kennebec. She was got off on the next tide, and proceeded to Bath, 
where passengers were landed and received. She then sailed for Bel- 
fast; in the evening, near Owl's Head, she met the steamer Pai^en^ 
from Belfast to Portland ; both vessels came in contact, and the Patent 
receiving injury was taken in tow by the New Yoi'h, and returned to 
Belfast. The New York then proceeded to Eastport, having about 
thirty-two soiils in all on board. On the same evening, between nine 
and ten o'clock, about eight miles to the eastward of Petit Menan 
Light, a glimmering light was discovered around the port funnel. 
Only two men were on deck, viz., one at the helm and one at the bow. 
No engineer or fireman was at his post, and but one bucket could be 
found on deck. Before assistance could be had the fire had got the 
upper hand, and the engineer could not stop the machinery. 

" No fire-engine, hose, or buckets could be found to throw a drop of 
water. The passengers escaped in the boats, and landed about midnight 
at the light-house, and from thence to the mainland." 

The " New York" had full round lines, flush deck, long scroll-head, 
like the packet-ships of that day ; her name painted on the paddle- 
boxes, with the addition " New York and Norfolk Packet." 

Captain Churchill, her commander, was known as a first-class sailor 
and coaster, and by his familiars was called " Old Churchyard." 

182 Jf.. — French Patent. — In 1824, L. A. Delangue, of Paris, 
France, patented a mode for propelling vessels and boats on rivers, by 
means of Archimedes's screw, placed horizontally, and put in motion 
by a steam-engine. 

A. A. Geerault, of Paris, patented a system of oars moving in a 
vertical direction, applicable to the navigation of steamboats, and G. 



128 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

Heath, of Paris, a method of keeping a boiler always full of water by 
condensing the steam. 

1825. — FiKST Steamer to Calcutta. — The steamship " Enter- 
prise'^ made the passage from London to Calcutta, and inaugurated the 
communication of England with India by steam. The *' Enterprise" 
was a vessel of four hundred and seventy tons burden, having engines 
of one hundred and twenty horse-power. Commanded by Lieutenant 
Johnson, R.N.,^ she sailed from Falmouth, August 16, 1825, and ar- 
rived in Diamond Harbor, Bengal, on the 7th of December, having 
achieved a distance of thirteen thousand seven hundred miles in one 
hundred and thirteen days, of which she was sixty-four days under 
steam, thirty-nine under sail, and ten at anchor. The " Enterprise" 
was built by an association of gentlemen, and was sold to the govern- 
ment of Bengal for forty thousand pounds, which, together with the 
passage-money, nearly paid her first cost. She was employed in the 
Burmese war with advantage, and on the occasion of the treaty of 
Malowa saved the government six lacs of rupees by reaching Calcutta 
in time to prevent the march of troops from the upper provinces. 

1825. — Jacob Perkins, February, 1825, applied a propeller eight 
feet in diameter at the side of the rudder of a canal-boat. It was built 
like a double set of windmill vanes, the solid axle of one set working 
the hollow axle of the other, and rotating in opposite directions. 

1825. — A vessel was also built at Rochester the same year by the 
Canal Towing Company, fitted, on the plan of Samuel Brown, with a 
gas vacuum-engine of twelve horse-power, working by means of bev- 
eled gear a ^z(;o-bladed propeller at the bow. The blades were at an 
angle of ninety degrees to each other, and forty-five degrees to the 
axis. 

Another vessel, with similar engine and propeller, was soon after 
tried on the Thames, and attained a speed of seven miles per hour. 

1826. — The following hand-bill, if compared with others of the 
present time, will show the improvement that has been made in the 
North River boats during the past half-century : 

"HUDSON RIVER STEAMBOAT LINE. 

" Constitution, Constellation, 

" Captain W. J. Wiswell. Captain R. G. Crittenden. 

" DAILY. 

" These new and splendid Boats will be dispatched Daily from 
New York and Albany, during the Summer months, commencing their 
regular trips, under this arrangement, on Monday, the 5th June : leaving 

1 Captain Johnson received ten thousand pounds for making the first steam 
voyage to India. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 129 

the wharf, foot of Cortland Street, J^ew York, at 10 a.m., and the 
wharf, near the steamboat office. South Market Street, Albany, at 9 
o'clock. 

"When practicable, the Boats will come to at the wharves at 
ISTewburgh, Poughkeepsie, Catskill, and Hudson. At Khinebeck and 
Kingston a convenient barge will constantly be in readiness to receive 
and land passengers. 

" At the other intermediate places passengers will be received and 
landed whenever it can be effected with safety. 

" These boats are of the first-class, and for extensive and airy ac- 
commodations, speed, and quiet motion of engines, and skilful manage- 
ment, are not surpassed by any boats navigating the Hudson River, and 
the proprietors assure the public that the most assiduous attention will 
be paid to the safety and comfort of passengers. 

" Agents for this line : 

A. ^". HOFFMAN, No. 71 Dey Street, New York. 
A. BARTHOLOMEW, South Market Street, Albany. 

" I^°'A11 freight and baggage at the risk of owners. Freight of 
light articles, one shilling per cubic foot. 
" May 23d, 1826." 

1826. — November 18, 1826, Bennett Woodcroft patented a screw- 
propeller in England. 

1827. — The following advertisement of a steamboat winter line 
between Philadelphia and New York is from a Philadelphia newspaper 
dated February 8, 1827 : 

"STEAMBOAT WINTER LINE FOR NEW YORK, 

And the only one now running between the two Cities. Through in 
one day. Two Citizens' Line Coaches leave their office, No. 32 North 
Third street, nearly opposite the City Hotel, every morning (Sundays 
excepted) at 4 o'clock ; breakfast at Vencleu's City Hotel, Trenton ; 
dine on board the steamboat, under way from Perth Amboy, and 
arrive in New York early the same afternoon. Fare through, $6. 

" For seats, apply at the above Office, Citizens' Line office. No. 23 
South Third street, sign of Robinson Crusoe, and at the office of the 
Reading and Bethlehem Mail Stages, A. M'Calla's, White Swan, Race 
street. 

All baggage at its owner's risque." 



1828, — The steamship "Atlas," launched at Rotterdam in the 
summer of 1828, had three engines of one hundred horse-power each, 
and four masts. Her decks were thirty-five feet longer than a first- 
rate man-of-war, and she was described as " a gigantic steam-vessel, 
the largest ever built." 



130 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

1828. — First Steamer in Turkey. — The first steamer ever 
seen in Turkey, the *^ Swift," arrived at Stamboul May, 1828. This 
solitary boat was purchased by an American and two or three others 
for three hundred and fifty thousand piasters, and was presented by 
them to the Sultan Mahmoud. 

1828.— T^iE, " CuRAgoA."— It seems probable tliat the sight of 
the ^^ Caledonia," which James Watt, Jr., brought early in 1817 from 
the Clyde to take up the Khine, staying a little while at Rotterdam, 
stimulated the interest of the Dutch in steam navigation j at any rate, 
they soon after ordered several small steamers from Scotland, and in 
1827 a company of the merchants of Amsterdam and Rotterdam 
united for the hazardous experiment of running steamships between 
the Netherlands aod the West Indies, Accordingly, they had a 
steamer built on the Clyde, which they named the " Cura9oa," of three 
hundred and fifty tons and one hundred horse-power, and dispatched 
her, in the summer of 1829, from Amsterdam to the Dutch West 
Indies. Another account says she started from Antwerp on her first 
trip August 12, 1828. The voyage to Cura9oa and from Antwerp 
was repeated several times with great commercial success ; neverthe- 
less, the enterprise soon came to an end. 

December 10, 1828, Charles Commerow patented a perfect one- 
turn screw propeller or spiral, fixed parallel to the keel, the outer 
bearing being held by a second sternpost, behind which was the rudder. 

1829. — Temperance on Long Island Sound. — At a meeting 
of the directors of the Chancellor Livingston Steam-Packet Company, 
in 1829, a resolution was adopted prohibiting the steward from placing 
decanters of brandy and spirits upon the tables. This action created 
a tremendous stir. As previously stated, the cuisine on the *^ Chan- 
cellor" had always been superb. In these meals the decanters had 
played an important part ; to banish them was atrocious. The indig- 
nation was strong, and a letter in defense of the action was published. 
That letter said " the directors were not influenced by petty motives of 
economy or gain, but hoped to do a little to aid the cause of reform," 
and concluded as follows : * 

" The tables are now supplied with red wines of good quality and 
pleasant flavor, as well as a good tendency in its effects upon those 
who may be affected by the motion of the boat. In addition to all 
this, whenever any person may choose to order brandy or spirits from 
a belief of their necessity, it will be immediately and cheerfully sup- 
plied from the bar, and the gentleman will hear no more about it unless 
he pleases." 

This sensible and moderate movement in favor of reform finally 
received the approval of all persons of true discernment. 

i6'^5».— November 29, 1829, Benjamin Smith, of Rochester, New 
York, obtained a patent ^^ for propelling boats on the water by the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 131 

application of sculling wheels, or a screw propelling wheel, formed 
like the wheel of a smoke-jack, and fixed at the stem or bow of the 
boat by means of a shaft running through the centre, and worked by 
any suitable power." July 10, 1830, a Mr. Doolittle, being at Syra- 
cuse, saw a steamer with wheels of this description arrive on the canal 
from the West. 

ISSO.—FehrusLYy 4, 1830, John M. Patten, of Milton, Pennsyl- 
vania, patented " a spiral or screw-wheel" (described by him as an old 
invention). 

May 22, Josiah Copley, of Warner Mark, Pennsylvania, patented 
"a shaft having affixed to it eight or any other number of vanes or 
fans, forming segments of spirals. These to be placed under water, 
parallel with the keel, and a rapid rotatory motion to be given to them. 

October 1, Felix Peltier, of New York, patented " a screw placed 
in a horizontal position, and wholly uncovered or naked, whether 
formed of a single spiral wound round a solid arbor and cutting at 
constantly equal angles, or whether its inclination vary, and whether 
the spiral be of one or the same breadth throughout, measured from 
the arbor." 

18S0, — Early Steamships of the French Navy. — The Min- 
ister of the French Marines in 1830 announced that the arrangements 
for the transformation of the cannon foundry of the island of Indret, 
on the Loire, into an establishment for the supply of engines for the 
use of the steamship dock-yard at that place, commenced at the close 
of 1828, were then sufficiently advanced to be in active operation. 

This steam dock-yard had already fitted out " Le Pelican." She 
had four wheels and four engines of sixty horse-power. The machine 
was made at Indret. Two steam-frigates, viz., the " Castor," and 
^* Crocodile," were building, calculated to draw twelve feet of water. 
Their length on deck was one hundred and sixty-one English feet, 
keel one hundred and fifty feet, extreme breadth thirty-six feet four 
inches, breadth amidships twenty-five feet. They were to be armed 
with six 24-pound carronades, and three of Paixhan's new guns, 
carrying a hollow twelve-inch shell shot. The French had nine armed 
steamships afloat in 1830, and nine under construction. A writer in 
the United Service Journal in 1831 says, "It is really surprising — 
melancholy — to find there is not one' steam man-of-war on our (the 
Royal) Navy list," — '' the construction of engines has not even com- 
menced in our dock-yards." 

1830. — First Steamer on the Danube. — The first attempts 
to navigate the Danube by steam were made by French and' German 
engineers, who were so confident of success that they did not even try 
the vessel, but before trial, invited the Emperor Francis I. to honor 
them with his presence on their first trip to Pesth. His Majesty 
embarked, and a favorable passage was made down the stream. On 



132 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

arriving at Pestli with the emperor on board the vessel created no little 
sensation ; salutes were fired from the batteries, the curiosity was in- 
tense, and to celebrate the great event public balls and other festivities 
were given. At the end of these joyous proceedings His Majesty inti- 
mated his intention of returning to Vienna. But when orders were 
given to " go on with all speed" it was found the engines had insuf- 
ficient power, and that the stream was carrying the boat down the 
river. All attempts to propel the boat againit the current proving 
inefficient, His Imperial Majesty was obliged to land and proceed to 
Vienna through a country where the roads were so bad that his car- 
riage frequently stuck fast in the mud. 

In 1830, Mr. J. Pritchard, an Englishman, succeeded in conquer- 
ing the Danube, and passing the rapids of Floresdorf in his steamer, 
returned to Vienna, where his vessel was visited by the imperial family 
and permission given to name her the ^^ Francis the First." Aeon- 
cession was granted to Mr. Pritchard by the Austrian government for 
the exclusive right of carrying on steam navigation on the Danube for 
fifteen years. 

1830,—Ftr^t English Mail Steamer. — The first English 
steamship to carry foreign mails w^as the "Meteor.'^ The United 
Service Journal for 1830 says, '^ It has long been contemplated for the 
conveyance of the foreign mails. H. M. steam- vessel ^ Meteor,^ Lieu- 
tenant William H. Symons, is to proceed to the Mediterranean on this 
service. The first adoption of steam in the conveyance of the foreign 
post-office mail has taken place. H. M. steam-vessel ' Meteor,' Lieu- 
tenant William H. Symons, left Falmouth February 5, for the Medi- 
terranean. We look on this as an era in steam navigation which bids 
fair to introduce its more general adoption for the purposes of govern- 
ment." 

1830. — First Steamer on the Eed Sea. — The Hon. East 
India Company's armed steamer "" Hugh Lindsay," Captain Wilson, 
of four hundred and eleven tons burden, and two engines of eighty 
horse-power each, arrived at Suez, April 20, 1830, from Bombay. 
She was the first steam-vessel that ever navigated the Red Sea. It 
had been for some time a favorite object of Sir John Malcolm, the 
governor of Bombay, to establish a steam conveyance for dispatches 
between that place and England, and the " Hugh Lindsay" was built 
for the purpose at a cost of forty thousand pounds ; yet the blunder 
was committed of her having only the capacity to carry six days' coal. 
In consequence the " Hugh Lindsay" was thirty-three days in reaching 
Suez from Bombay, having lost twelve days in the ports of Aden, 
Mocha, Jiddah, and Cosseir, coaling. 

The letters sent by her reached England in less time than any ever 
received before from India. Colonel Campbell was the only passen- 
ger by her, from want of room, as the cabin and every other available 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 133 

place was occupied by coal. She was so deep in the water on leaving 
Bombay that she was d fleur d'eau, and her wheels could hardly re- 
volve. The distances between the several places on her route are : From 
Bombay to Aden, 1710 miles ; from Aden to Mocha, 146 miles ; from 
Mocha to Jiddah, 556 miles; from Jiddah to Cosseir, 430 miles; 
from Cosseir to Suez, 261 miles, which at twenty days' navigation is 
155 miles a day, or six miles and a fraction per hour. She was the 
first vessel that made so long a voyage entirely by steam. 

A letter from the captain of the " Hugh Lindsay^' details this the 
first attempt to establish a steam conveyance upon the Red Sea, where 
the Lord opened a path for the Israelites of old, and where Pharaoh 
and his host so miserably perished : 

"Hon. Company's Armed Steamer 'Hugh Lindsay,' 
"Suez, April 22, 1830. 

" Sir, — I have much pleasure in acquainting you with the arrival 
of the ' Hugh Lindsay' at Suez this day from Bombay, which place 
she left 20th of March. The passage has occupied more time than 
was expected, owing to the delay occasioned by receiving coal at Aden 
and Jiddah. At the former place we were detained six days, and at 
Jiddah five. We also touched at Mocha, which detained us a day. 
The present trip being an experiment, I was instructed, if time per- 
mitted, to visit you at Alexandria, for the purpose of communicating 
with you on the subject of steam navigation in the Red Sea ; but the 
season being now so far advanced, it is necessary we should use the 
utmost dispatch to insure our return to Bombay previous to the setting 
in of the southwest monsoon, for which reason we shall leave Suez as 
soon as we have received what coal there is. We touched at Cosseir 
to take what fuel was there also, and we are apprehensive we shall find 
scarcely enough on the Red Sea to take us to Bombay. 

" The ' Hugh Lindsay' is four hundred and eleven tons burden, and 
has two eighty horse-power engines. By the builder's plan, she appears 
to have been intended to carry about six days' coal ; but in order to 
make the passage from Bombay to Aden she was laden as deep as could 
be, and left with her transom in the water. Notwithstanding, on our 
arrival at Aden after a passage of eleven days, we had only about six 
hours' coal remaining, which circumstance alone shows her unfit for the 
performance of the passage. Her being so deep, too, materially affected 
her speed. I met with greater detention in getting off coal at Aden 
and Jiddah than I had anticipated. Arrangements might be made to 
expedite the shipment of coal at those places, but I am now of opinion 
the fewer depots the better, and that if steamers were built of a class 
that would be propelled by engines whose consumption of coal would 
not exceed nine tons in the twenty-four hours, and which should carry 
conveniently fifteen days' coal at that rate of consumption, then the 



134 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

navigation of the Eed Sea would be best carried on in two stages, one 
from Bombay to Aden, and from thence to Cosseir or Suez direct. I 
think, too, there is no necessity for proceeding up as far as Suez, as 
every object might be equally well attained by going to Cosseir only. 
As far as the passengers are concerned, the majority, I should suppose, 
would prefer being landed at that place, for the purpose of viewing 
the antiquities on the route from thence to Alexandria, and the arrival 
of dispatches would be very little delayed when we take into account 
the time occupied by a steamer on going from the parallel of Cosseir 
to Suez, which, when northwest winds prevail, could not be done in 
less than two days and a half. 

" I inclose a copy of the log of the ' Hugh Lindsay' from Bombay 
to Suez, conceiving it might possess some interest as the journal of the 
first steam-vessel which has ever navigated the Red Sea. 

" I am, sir, etc." 

i^*^^.— -April 23, 1831, Giraud patented in the United States "a 
screw or spiral lever for propelling.^' 

1831. — The Fiest Steamer to Chicago.— The first steamer 
arrived at Chicago, Illinois, in 1831. Nothing could exceed the sur- 
prise of the sons of the forest on seeing this steamer move against wind 
and current without sails or oars. They lined the shores and expressed 
their astonishment by repeated shouts of ^^ Taiyoh nichee .'" an expres- 
sion of surprise. A report had been circulated among them that a 
" big canoe" would soon come from the noisy waters, which by order 
of the Great Father of the "Chemo Komods" (Yankees)^ would be 
drawn through the lakes and rivers by a sturgeon, and this served to 
verify the report. 

1832, — Iron Steamboats. — March, 1832, Bennett Woodcroft 
patented a screw formed by a circular line coiled round a cylinder, in- 
creasing the pitch throughout the length and producing greater speed 
with fewer revolutions, to be fixed forward of the middle post by cut- 
ting away part of the dead wood. Sauvage also experimented this 
year. 

The introduction of wrought-iron hulls for steam-vessels produced 
great improvements. It enabled builders to combine a strength and 
lightness of draught peculiarly advantageous in some branches of trade 
and in certain localities. The " Alburkha," of fifty-five tons, built as 
a companion to the '^Quorra" for the Niger expedition in 1832, gave 
great satisfaction. Messrs. Laird, of Liverpool, their builders, imme- 
diately commenced the ^^ Garryowen," to run between Limerick and 
Kilrush. The " Garryowen" was one hundred and twenty-five feet on 
deck, twenty-one feet six inches beam, with engines of fifty horse-power 
each. The " Garry owen" was driven on shore in the great hurricane 
which happened soon after, but escaped uninjured. This evidence of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 135 

the power of iron vessels to withstand the casualties of the sea so raised 
their estimation that they were rapidly increased in number and their 
size greatly extended. The '^ Garryowen" was the first steamer built 
that had a regular arrangement of water-tight bulk- heads. 

XSW. — The '' Aaeon Manby." — The first steam- vessel ever con- 
structed of iron was the '* Aaron Manby/' ^ launched in 1820, and 
named for her builder. She was constructed at the Horsely Iron- 
Works in sections, and was sent to London and put together in dock. 
September, 1821, Captain — afterwards Eear-Admiral — Sir Charles 
Napier, a partner in the speculation, took charge of her and navigated 
her from London to Havre, and thence to Paris, without unloading 
any of her cargo. She was the first, and for thirty years afteiuoards 
the only, vessel that sailed direct from London to Paris. In 1843 she 
was in good condition, and to that time had required no repairs on her 
hull. She was broken up in 1855, after thirty-five years^ service. 

1832. — The third steamer to cross the Atlantic was the " Royal 
William," built at Quebec in 1831 by Mr. George Black for the Quebec 
and Halifax Steam Navigation Company. She is described as 360f f 
tons burden, one deck, three masts-, one hundred and sixty feet long ; 
breadth above the main wales, forty-four feet; between paddle-boxes, 
twenty-eight feet; schooner-rigged, carvel built. She was towed to 
Montreal, where she was fitted with marine engines with side levers by 
Messrs. Bennett and«Henderson. The ship created a profound sensa- 
tion, and especially upon the officers of one of his Majesty's frigates, 
who fired at her as she was steaming through the Gulf, and she was 
compelled to lay to until convinced that there was nothing diabolical 
in her construction. The only cargo she carried on her trip across the 
Atlantic was coal, which was nearly all used on the voyage. The good 
people of Cockaigne thronged to see the strange craft in the Thames, 
and were heard to remark that the '' Indians" were not unlike them- 
selves, the hallucination being strengthened by the fact that the ancient 
mariners were talking French. While in the Thames the " Koyal Wil- 
liam," according to our informant, was sold to the Spanish government, 
and became the '^ Isabella the Second," and the first war-vessel of the 
Dons. 

Mr. Joseph George Dauten, who was the second engineer of the 
"Royal William" on this Atlantic trip, was in Montreal in 1880. 

Her Majesty's ship " Rhodamanthus" arrived at Barbadoes May 
17, 1832, from Plymouth. She was the first vessel of the Royal Navy 
to make the voyage to the West Indies, and the Portsmouth Herald^ 
in announcing her intended departure, says, '* we are anxious to learn 
what may be the effect of the climate on the engines, fittings, etc." 

1832. — The Fiest Ironclad Battery. — Robert L. Stevens 

^ Previously noted. 



136 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

conceived the Stevens battery in 1832. It was to be an iron-armored 
ship, two hundred and fifty feet long, and twenty-eight feet beam. His 
brothers, J. C. and E. A. Stevens, assisted in the experiments, and the 
keel of the battery was laid in 1843. In 1854, the improvement in 
projectiles having got ahead of the growth of the battery, the old de- 
signs were abandoned and the keel of the Stevens battery, as it was 
called, was laid. It was designed to be forty feet over all, and forty- 
five feet beam, with a draught of twenty-two feet, and six thousand 
tons displacement. Powerful engines devised by Mr. Stevens were to 
give the battery a speed of fifteen and three-quarter knots. Mr. E. A. 
Stevens at his death left one million dollars to complete the vessel, 
directing that it should be given when completed to the State of New 
Jersey. This million, together with nearly as much expended before, 
was used up. The heirs claimed the battery and began a suit to have 
it declared theirs. The New Jersey courts held that the title was in 
the State, and the heirs appealed to the United States courts for the 
reversal of the decision. Meanwhile, the battery stood on property 
belonging to the Stevens' estate valued, it is claimed, at one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. The heirs desired to make the property re- 
munerative, and in order to get the battery away asked the chancellor 
to have the battery sold. 

In 1880, in pursuance to a decree of the Court of Chancery of 
New Jersey, the whole of the still unfinished Stevens battery, together 
with three steam-engines used in the workshops and in the construction 
of the hull, an immense quantity of iron, bolts, and screws, and a lot 
of tools, wrenches, punching- and bolting-machines, were sold at auc- 
tion, at the yard in Hoboken, to William E. Laimbeer, of New York, 
for sixty-two thousand seven hundred and ninety dollars. It had cost 
nearly two million dollars. 

The battery and material were divided into eight lots. The first 
lot, comprising the hull of the vessel so far as it was completed, with the 
engines and boilers on board, a locomotive boiler and Worthington 
pump, and a quantity of rope and trestle-work and shed beneath which 
the battery is housed, was offered for sale as soon as the master in 
chancery had read the decree and stated the conditions of sale, as fol- 
lows : On each of the seven small lots ten per cent, of the purchase- 
money to accompany the purchase, and the remainder on October 20. 
On lot one, the vessel, ten per cent, of the purchase-money down, six- 
teen per cent, on October 20, and the rest, if the vessel, etc., should be 
removed in one lot or remain on the ground for completion, before the 
1st day of January, 1881 ; or if removed piece-meal, in installments 
as the material is removed, at the rate of twenty dollars per ton. The 
bidding opened at twenty-five thousand dollars, and rose quickly by 
one thousand-dollar bids to thirty-two thousand dollars, then by five 
hundred dollars a bid to forty-seven thousand dollars, after which it 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 137 

dragged at two hundred and fifty dollars a bid to fifty-five thousand 
dollars, at which figure it was knocked down to Mr. William E. Laim- 
beer, of No. 51 East Thirty-first Street, New York. The only bidders 
besides the purchaser after thirty-five thousand dollars had been offered 
were Mr. Purves, of Purves & Son, Philadelphia, and Mr. Clancy, of 
Boston. 

In 1832 the ^'General Jackson'^ was the only steamer running in 
the Sound between New York and Norwich. She was thought in her 
tiuie a splendid craft, and no one ever imagined that any improvements 
could be made in regard to her beauty, speed, or comfort. But time 
works wonders. ^* She had no state-rooms, her passengers being com- 
pelled to sleep in berths below the water-line. These were roomy 
enough, but at times they were not numerous enough to accommodate 
the throngs that took passage. On these occasions Captain Havens 
used to resort to a lottery. Whenever he saw that all could not get 
berths he'd send a boy on deck with a big bell, which he'd ring and 
tell the passengers to step into the cabin for berths. When all had 
assembled he would place slices of paper with numbers corresponding 
to the berths, and as many blanks, and shake 'em up. Then each man 
or woman would step up, draw a slip, and if there was a number on 
it, that berth was placed at the disposal of the lucky one. If not, it 
was a matter of solicitude to find a soft place on the cabin floor. It 
was a rare thing, however, for a lady to be compelled to rest that way, 
as the more fortunate males gallantly surrendered their privileges and 
slept where they could find a place." 

1833. — The First Mail Contract. — The first contract for car- 
rying the mails in steamers was made by the British postmaster-general 
in 1833, with the " Mona Isle Steam Company," to run semi-weekly 
between Liverpool and the Isle of Man at eight hundred and fifty 
pounds per annum. After this a contract tvas made in 1834 with the 
'' General Steam Navigation Company," for the weekly conveyance of 
the mails between London and Rotterdam and London and Hamburg 
at seventeen thousand pounds per year. Both these contracts continued 
in force twenty years or more. 

1833. — Early Steamboats ox the Lakes. — Mr. Randall, of 
Philadelphia, in 1833, built the ''Wisconsin," two hundred and eigh- 
teen feet long by thirty-eight feet wide, at Detroit, and ran her through 
three of the lakes on round trips of two thousand miles. In 1845 he 
designed and navigated the '' Empire," two hundred and fifty-one feet 
long, thirty-eight feet beam, sixteen statute miles per hour. Soon after 
the '' City of Buffalo" and the " Western Metropolis" were sent afloat. 
They were sister boats three hundred and forty feet long, forty-two feet 
beam, and only nine and one-half feet draught of water, light laden. 
By a report in the Cleveland Herald the trip between Buffalo and 
Cleveland at that early date was made at an average speed of twenty- 

10 



138 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

one miles an hour by the '' Metropolis/' the ^^ City of Buffalo" making 
even greater speed/ 

1833, — H. M. steaui-packet ^' Firebrand'^ traversed, in sixty-six 
days, eleven thousand five hundred miles in two voyages from Fal- 
mouth to Corfu, and one from the same port to Lisbon. In the same 
year the '^ Royal William,'^ of one thousand tons burden and one hun- 
dred and eighty horse-power engine, built on Three Rivers, in Lower 
Canada, made the voyage from Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Cowes, in the 
Isle of Wight, being the third transatlantic voyage^ of a steamer. She 
was employed for three or four years between England and Ireland. 
She afterwards made several voyages across the Atlantic. The people 
of the provinces claimed for her the credit of the first ocean transit by 
steam. The Historical Society of Chicago has the original working 
plans of this vessel, presented by James Gouchie, a Scotch ship-builder, 
who, in 1880, was a resident of that city. She was launched at Quebec 
in 1831, and made the trip from Pictou to London in twenty-five days. 
In 1837 '^The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company" purchased the 
^^ Royal William," and she made her first voyage from Dublin to 
Liverpool, October 9, 1837, in nine hours and forty-eight minutes. 
Soon after she was sold to the Spanish government for ten thousand 
pounds, and converted into a man-of-war. She sailed from Pictou to 
cross the Atlantic April 1, 1833. 

1834. — Up to the year 1834 steamboats in the United States had 
burnt wood only. The " Novelty" burnt forty cords each trip from 
New York to Albany. In 1836 experiments were made with anthracite 
coal for fuel on board the ferry-boats in New York with success, but 
wood was principally used for American coast-steamers for several 
years after. 

The advent of ocean steam navigation soon led to the almost uni- 

1 In 1860, Mr. Kandall designed and modeled a vessel for an ocean steamship line 
to be called the " Philadelphia and Crescent Steam Navigation Company," organ- 
ized for constructing vessels for trading between Great Britain and Philadelphia, 
which obtained an act of incorporation from the State Legislature of Pennsylvania. 
This vessel was to be five hundred feet long, fifty-eight feet moulded beam, and to 
measure eight thousand tons. Her motive-power was to consist of two sets of 
wheels. She was to have ample accommodations for three thousand passengers and 
three thousand tons of cargo, and to be a regular " twenty-mile ship." She was to 
have ample fuel room sufficient to run eight thousand miles without stopping for 
coal; a main saloon of three hundred and fifty feet of uninterrupted length and 
one hundred and seventy-five family state-rooms, with double beds in each of extra 
size, etc. A dining-room and drawing-room, each one hundred and fifty feet long, 
a social hall, reading-room, smoking-room, and library, etc. — Lindsay's Merchant 
Shipping^ vol. iv., pp. 157, 158. 

Unfortunately, this magnificent design of Mr, Kandall was never put to a prac- 
tical test at that time, but he only anticipated the large ocean steamships of 
to-day. 

2 The " Savannah," 1819, from Liverpool, was the first ; the " Cura9oa," from 
Antwerp to Cura9oa, the second. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 139 

versal use of coal, — bituminous and anthracite, — even the steamboats 
on the Mississippi having adopted the former. 

1834-. — The first steamer on the Merrimac Eiver, Massachusetts,, 
was called the '^ Herald/^ She was built above Pawtucket Falls, 
launched in 1834, and made regular trips between Lowell and Nashua 
when Lowell liad but fourteen thousand inhabitants and Nashua a few 
hundred. In 1888 she was lengthened, and could carry five hundred 
passengers. In 1840 she was floated over the falls to Newburyport, 
and taken to New York, and run as a ferry-boat between New York 
city and Brooklyn.^ 

1885. — John F. Smith, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, September 
18, 1835, patented a screw revolving in a cavity made by giving the 
hull the form of a double vessel from amidships to the stern, the fore- 
part being in the ordinary shape. 

Edward P. Fitzpatrick, of Mount Morris, New York, November 
23, 1835, patented a spiral screw, the shaft swelling in the middle like 
a double cone, surrounded by a spiral thread, also wider in the middle 
than at the ends. 

i<5'^6'.-^FRENCH Steamboats. — The whole number of French 
steamboats in 1836 was eighty-two; the majority were of small size 
and only suited to the navigation of the French rivers. Forty-four 
were passenger-boats, seventeen freight-boats, and twenty-one employed 
in towing ships. The aggregate horse-power of these eighty-two 
steamboats was two thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, an average 
of thirty-five horse-power to each boat. The average tonnage was 
estimated at one hundred and eighty tons, or fifteen thousand in all. 

Twenty-seven steam-vessels were also in the French Royal Navy, 
eighteen afloat, six on the stocks, and three employed as tugs. Of the 
eighteen afloat, eleven had one hundred and sixty horse-power each, and 
seven one hundred and fifty horse-power and under, and were armed 
with six guns each, two being Paixhan or steel guns. Fifty-four steam- 
vessels were also preparing for the service of the Post-Office Depart- 
ment in the Mediterranean. 

THE ORIGIN OF OCEAX STEAM NAVIGATION, J 832. 

No thought was entertained of the application of steam to ocean 
navigation until 1832, when the subject was first brought before the 
public by an American citizen, a graduate of Yale College of the class 
of 1802, Junius Smith, LL.D., who had resided in London over forty 
years, engaged in active business pursuits with this country. In 1832 
he crossed the Atlantic on the British ship " St. Leonard,^^ arriving in 
New York in October, after a passage of fifty-four days. He returned 
to London in the packet-ship " Westminster,'' sailing from New York 
in December, making the passage to Plymouth, England, in thirty-two 

^ Newburyport Herald. 



140 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

days. These two passages forced upon his mind the idea of trans- 
atlantic steam navigation, and writing to his correspondents in New 
York, under date ^^ London, June 28, 1833,^' he says, — 

'^ Thirty-two days from New York to Plymouth is no trifle ; any 
ordinary sea-going steamer would have run it iviih the weather we had in 
fifteen days with ease. I shall not relinquish the project unless I find 
it absolutely impracticable/' 

After giving the subject thoughtful examination, his mind became 
thoroughly imbued with the project, and he entered upon it with en- 
thusiasm, first introducing the scheme to leading business-men and 
bankers of London, and to shipping merchants engaged in the Ameri- 
can trade. The novel project was received with indifference and scouted 
as visionary, and presenting insurmountable obstacles. These objec- 
tions he regarded as the offspring of ignorant prejudice, which it was 
his province to overthrow. He issued a prospectus embodying facts 
and figures to disprove such objections, which he distributed personally. 
He failed to meet with the slightest encouragement, but, on the con- 
trary, with unqualified ridicule, as a visionary, and an outspoken oppo- 
sition from all the sailing-packet interest, whose craft would-be endan- 
gered if the enterprise should prove successful. Nothing daunted by 
these difficulties, which served only to furnish him new arguments 
favorable to his project and to enlarge his ideas, he issued a second and 
then a third prospectus, giving a wider scope to his idea on a more ex- 
tended basis. Thus, his first prospectus contemplated a company with 
one hundred thousand pounds sterling capital to build steamers of one 
thousand tons, while his third prospectus proposed forming a company 
with one million pounds sterling capital to build steamers of eighteen 
hundred to two thousand tons. These prospectuses presented calcula- 
tions based upon facts connected with the commerce and shipping in- 
terests of the two countries which could not be controverted, the only 
remaining point was to satisfy the public of the practicability of the 
scheme. 

Here was a direct issue, for which no precedent was furnished, and 
it seemed for a time a formidable objection. Although the fact that a 
vessel might be safely and expeditiously navigated by steam-power 
from port to port in the coasting trade was fully demonstrated, it was 
universally thought impracticable to cross the Atlantic by the same 
means. It was an Herculean task to turn such currents of thought, but 
to this great change his efforts were directed. In accomplishing this 
he set about organizing a company under the title of ^' The British and 
American Steam Navigation Company," by securing a board of direc- 
tors upon the basis of his third prospectus, as stated, with a capital of 
one million pounds sterling. To further this he waited upon leading 
merchants and bankers, soliciting the use of their names, borrowing 
them as a man would borrow money, with the promise to return it as 



HISTORY OF STEAM XAVIGATIOK 141 

soon as he could do without. After great labor he succeeded in securing 
a list of directors. With these he came before the public, opening 
books of subscription to the stock. Here it may be proper to remark 
that a more difficult task can scarcely be conceived than the introduc- 
tion to the British public of a new project embracing such physical 
objections as Atlantic Ocean steam navigation for a consecutive number 
of days, for the reason that they are a conservative and peculiarly 
cautious people, slow to move, while ready with their vast wealth for 
great enterprises. The books of subscription were opened in July, 
1836, shares were liberally subscribed, sufficient being allotted to war- 
rant contracting for their first steamship, w^hich was made with Messrs. 
Curling & Young, ship-builders at Blackwall, London. Relative to 
this Dr. Smith wrote his New York correspondents, — 

" I have the pleasure to inform you that the directors of the ' British 
and American Steam Navigation Company' have contracted for the 
building of the largest and intended to be the most splendid steamship 
ever built, expressly for the New York and London trade. She will 
measure one thousand seven hundred tons, two hundred feet keel, forty 
feet beam, three decks, and everything in proportion. She will carry 
two engines of two hundred and twenty-five horse-power each, seventy- 
six-inch cylinder, and nine feet stroke. The expense of this steam- 
frigate is estimated at sixty thousand pounds. These large under- 
takings require time to mature, but I think the business will at last be 
done effectually. '^ 

The contract for the engines was made with Messrs. Claude, Gird- 
wood & Co., of Glasgow, which firm, after completing about two-thirds 
of the work, was obliged to suspend and went into bankruptcy, which 
proved a serious disappointment, involving a year's delay. A new 
contract was then made with Mr. Robert Napier, of Glasgow, and as 
the building of the ship progressed the views of the directors enlarged, 
resulting in the completion of the " British Queen," of two thousand 
four hundred tons. The delay consequent upon the failure of the first 
contractors for the engines, coupled with the importance of practical 
demonstration of the feasibility of crossing the Atlantic Ocean by 
steam, determined the company to charter the steamer '^ Sirius,'' of 
about seven hundred tons, for a voyage from London to New York 
and return. She was dispatched from London April 1, 1838, and 
arrived at New York on the 17th, making the passage in sixteen days' 
consecutive steaming, encountering very tempestuous weather, com- 
pletely demonstrating the feasibility of crossing the Atlantic by steam. 
She was soon succeeded by the "British Queen," which left London in 
July, 1839, and arrived in New York after a passage of fourteen and 
a half days. It is certainly of value as a matter of record to give the 
prospectus under which the enterprise was originated. The following 
is a verbatim copy of the original : 



142 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

''BRITISH AND AMERICAN STEAM NAVIGATION- 
COMPANY. 

''capital, £1,000,000, in 10,000 shares of £100 each. 

" directors : 

" Henry Bainbridge, Esq., ChairQian, 
"Chas. Enderby, Esq., Col. Aspinwall, U. States Consul, 

"Capt. Thomas Larkins, Junius Smith, Esq., 

"Capt. Robt. Locke, Jos. Robinson Pirn, Esq., 

" Capt. Robt. Isaacke, Liverpool, 

" Paul Twigg, Esq., Dublin, Jas. Beale, Esq., Cork. 
" Bankers — Messrs. Puget, Bainbridge & Co., 12 St. Paul's Church- 
yard. 

" Secretary — Macgregor Laird, Esq. 

" The object of this company is to establish a regular and certain 
communication by steamships between Great Britain and the United 
States. The vessels are intended to depart alternately from London 
and Liverpool to New York ; their average passage w^ill not exceed 
fifteen days. The company's first vessel, the ' British Queen,' has 
capacity for five hundred passengers, twenty-five days' fuel, and eighty 
tons measurement goods, exclusive of provivsions, stores, etc. 

"The successful voyages of 'Sirius' and ' Great Western' steam- 
ships having placed the success of the undertaking beyond a doubt, 
the Directors are now preparing contracts for other vessels of similar 
description to the ' British Quefiu,' and will be able in 1839 to dis- 
patch their vessels for New York on the 1st and 16th of each month 
from London and Liverpool alternately. 

" Applications for shares may be made to Macgregor Laird, Esq., 
at the Company's offices, 78 Cornhill ; to Buxendale, Tathem, Upton 
& Johnston, 7 Great Manchester Street, London ; to Isaac Miller, Esq., 
Liverpool, and to Boyle, Low, Pain & Co., Duane Street, Dublin." 

Such was the modest prospectus under which a system of ocean 
steam navigation, now extending throughout the entire globe, was 
inaugurated. 

The Duke of Wellington, in answer to a letter addressed to him 
by Dr. Junius Smith, replied "he would give no countenance to any 
scheme which had for its object a change in the established system of 
the country."^ 

1830.— Th^ First Steamers in China.— In the "Life of E. 

^ These facts were furnished to the New York Evening Post by Henry Smith, of 
the firm of Wadsworth & Smith, New York, who is in possession of all the corre- 
spondence from the first inception of the enterprise. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 143 

C. Bridgeman, the Pioneer of American Missions in China/^ the arrival 
of the first steamer at Macao is thus mentioned in his diary : 

''May I, 1830.— Arrived at Macao on the 19th (April) in the 
steamer ' Forbes/ the first ship of the kind that has ever visited these 
shores. She's a wonder to the Chinese; they call her Fo Shune, — The 
Fire-Ship." 

In 1832 a Canton paper contained an advertisement of the steamer 
" King-fa." It said, " She carries a cow, a xmrgeon, a band of music, 
and has rooms elegantly fitted up for cards and opium-smoking.^' 

In 1835 an attempt was made by the foreign residents to place a 
small steamboat called the " Jardine" upon the Canton River, to run 
between Lintin, Macao, and Whampoa. In consequence of the op)po- 
sition of the Chinese authorities, as shown in the following corre- 
spondence, the undertaking was temporarily abandoned. The editor 
of the Canton Register remarks, " We understand that the project of 
running the steamer in the way set forth in the letter is not abandoned, 
notwithstanding the deputy-governor's refusal to accede to the proposi- 
tion of the whole of the foreign community of Canton. . Perhaps the 
arrival of the new governor will be a favorable opportunity to reurge 
this reasonable and judicious plan of communication with the shipping 
at Lintin and with Macao. A united and determined perseverance on 
the part of the foreigners is all that is wanted to carry this or any 
other reasonable project into effect. 

'' We notice with unfeigned pleasure the unanimous feeling of the 
foreign community on this subject. The name of every foreign mer- 
chant in Canton was signed to the letter to Howqua, including the 
three East India Company's agents, whose names head the list. si 



•' To HowQUA, Senior Hong Merchant Canton : 

" Sir, — We, the undersigned, merchants of all nations residing at 
Canton, having for years past experienced much inconvenience from 
the tardiness and uncertainty of our communication with MacaO; where 
our wives and children reside, as well as from the difficulties attend- 
ing the conveyance of letters to and from vessels arriving and depart- 
ing, have lately procured from Europe, at considerable expense, a 
traveling boat of a modern construction propelled by steam and capable 
of moving against wind and tide. 

'"The said boat having arrived at Lintin, we intend to order her 
up without delay ; and, as the officers stationed at the different forts, 
never having seen a traveling boat of this description, may entertain 
erroneous ideas regarding her, and may attempt to impede her passage 
up the river, which might terminate in disaster, the motive of our now 
addressing you is to request the favor of your forwarding a true state- 

^ Canton Register, December 29. I800. 



144 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

ment to the government officers, in order to preclude the possibility of 
misunderstanding or trouble. 

"Being all personally known to you, it is superfluous to assure you 
of our peaceable dispositions and the rectitude of our intentions. 

" Our boat is purely a passage-boat, and no cargo can ever be 
admitted. Neither is she provided with a defensive weapon of any 
description, such is our unbounded confidence in the protection of the 
Imperial government. Any officer doubting our statement can satisfy 
himself by personal inspection. 

"The regularity of communication thus established will leave no 
inducement to resort any longer to Chinese fast-boats for the convey- 
ance of letters or passengers, which has so frequently led to petitioning 
at the city gate, removing at once one of the chief sources of trouble 
to the Hong merchants as well as to ourselves. 

" The boat is expected at Canton in seven days, w^hen we shall be 
happy to see you, sir, or any gentleman of your honorable country, on 
board. 

" With cojnpliments we affix our names. 

"We herein state her length 85 feet, beam 17 feet, draught of 
water, 6 feet. Reduced to Chinese feet in the Chinese letter, being 70 
feet length, 14 beam, 5 draught of water.'^ 

To this letter the Hong merchants replied : 

"We respectfully inform you, benevolent elder brethren, that yes- 
terday we received your letter, the contents of which we immediately 
submitted to Tuhheen. Now, we have received the Tuhheen's reply, 
which we have faithfully transcribed, and we present it praying that 
you, benevolent elder brethren, will all inform yourselves thereof. 
You, gentlemen, and the established authorities of your honorable 
country, should obey the orders that the said steamship is not permitted 
to enter the port. When there are letters, ships' boats, as heretofore, 
should be ordered to make a clear report arid bring them up for 
delivery. We earnestly request your particular attention to this matter. 
Directed to Mr. Jardine and the constituted gentlemen for their in- 
formation. 

" Signed by Wootaeyung, and ten others. 

" 11th moon, 6th day,— 25th December, 1835." 

The acting-governor also wrote to Hong merchants in reply to the 
petition of the foreign merchants : 

" Ke, Guardian of the Prince, Acting Governor-general of the two 
Kwang, Seunfoo of Kwantung, proclaims to the Hong merchants, who 
have presented the petition of the English foreign merchant Tanele 
(Daniel) and the others, in reply, — 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 145 

'^ I have examined^ and find that each ship of every nation arriving 
in the Chinese waters (of Canton province) have hitherto been cargo- 
ships, and, consequently, they have been permitted to come up to 
Whampoa ; with these exceptions, ships are not allowed to enter the 
port. As the ships that remain at anchor in the offing have letters for 
delivery and such- like business, heretofore it has been the custom to 
order ships' boats to make a clear report at the custom-houses, and then 
allow them to enter the port ; these are the reported and fixed regula- 
tions. Now, as the English have brought hither a steamship, it is 
proper to manage the affair agreeably to the regulations. The said 
Hong merchants must immediately transmit the orders to the foreigner 
of the said steamship, that if he has letters he should order ships' 
boats to make a clear report, and then enter the port and deliver the 
letters, he must not hastily bring in the steamship ; if he presumes 
obstinately to disobey, I, the acting-governor, have already issued 
orders to all the forts that when the steamship arrives they are to open 
a thundering fire and attack her. On the whole, since he has arrived 
within the boundaries of the Celestial Dynasty, it is right that we 
should obey the laws of the Celestial Dynasty. I order the said 
foreigner to ponder this well and act in trembling obedience thereto. 

" Taoukttang, 15tli 3"ear, 11th moon, 6th da}-, — 25th December, 1835." 

Hoppo followed this letter with this edict three days later : 

^^ Pang by Imperial appointment Controller- General of the Castom^s at 
Canton, etc.: 

"1 have examined and find that the reported and fixed regulations 
are that the foreign ships of every nation, when they arrive in the 
waters of Canton, should, as the law directs, make a clear report and 
receive a pilot to bring them up to Whampoa. In the transmission of 
letters hitherto open boats have been used to enter and leave the port, 
which waited to be examined ; this has been the custom for very 
many years, and there has neither been delay nor impediment ; and most 
assuredly these regulations are unchangeable. It is now authenticated 
that the English have petitioned respecting a newly-built steamship. 
This is scarcely a credible affair. She is not permitted to enter the 
port. I order the head Hong merchants arid all the others immediately 
to direct their most assiduous attention to the explanation of the orders 
to the said foreigners, that they should be obedient to the fixed regula- 
tions as established by the Emperor, and that they should use ships' 
small open boats for the conveyance of letters in going and returning, and 
reverently obey the laws of the Celestial Dynasty ; they are not allowed 
presumptuously to make changes and oppose the prohibitory laws. 
Forthwith obey my former orders on this business, and await the reply 
of the acting-governor. 

" Taoxjkwaxg, 15th year, 11th m.oon, 9th day, — December 28, 1835." 



146 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The doubt expressed by Pang as to the credibility of the ^' affair'' 
of the steamer is pointed at the manner in which he supposes she may 
be employed ; he does not believe that she is merely intended as a 
passage-boat and packet^ and seems afraid there is some ulterior design 
on the part of the foreigners.^ 

In Williams's ^^ Middle Kingdom" (vol. i. pp. 573, 574, edition 
1876) there is a description of a steamer which " was attached to draw- 
ings made by the Chinese when the English attacked Canton in 1841 :" 

" She's more than three hundred cubits long, 
And thirty-odd in height and breadth ; 
Iron is used to bend her stiff and stout, 
And she's painted black all round about ; 
Like a weaver's shuttle is her shape ; 
On both sides carriage-wheels are fixed, 
And, using fossil coal to make a fire. 
They whirl around as the race-horse flies. 
Of white cloth all the sails are made, 
In winds both fair and foul she goes. 
On her bow is the god of the waves, 
At stem and stern is a revolving gun ; 
Her form is truly terrific to men. * 

The god of the North displaying his sanctity. 
The sunken rocks there shoaled the steamer ; 
All who saw it witnessed to the justice of heaven. 
None of the plans of the foreigners took effect, 
Which greatly delighted the hearts of men." 

In this connection, referring to the American steamers trading in 
Canton waters, Mr. Gideon Nye wrote,^ — 

" Premising that several steamers under the British flag preceded 
the coming of any but a very small one under our own, I merely recall 
that this one was the ' Firefly,' sent out in pieces by R. B. Forbes, Esq., 
of Boston, to run between Canton and Whampoa; that he sent next 
the * Spark' (that is still running to Macao, after having been length- 
ened about sixteen feet), also in pieces, chiefly for account of the late 
Mr. J. B. Endicott ; and another called the ^ Midas,' that went hence 
to Brazil. These all came out during my absence from Canton, — that 
is, after 1845 and before 1850. 

1 "The steamer ' Jardine' was sailed out as a schooner from Aberdeen (Scotland), 
and arrived in September, 1835, at Lintin, where her machinei»y was put in work- 
ing order ; and she made several trips to the Bogue (Bocca Tigris) in November, 
being intended as a passenger and mail conveyance between Macao, Lintin, and 
Canton. But, although every foreign merchant residing at Canton signed a letter 
to Howqua for submission to the governor, stating the purpose of her employment 
and engaging that she should be restricted to it, the chief authorities refused con- 
sent to her entering the river ; and this was peremptory, notwithstanding the ad- 
miral's disposition to admit her, having visited her and allowed her to take his own 
junk in tow up and down Anson's Bay, after which he freely acknowledged that 
there could be no harm in her running." — Gideon Nye, in China Review^ Hong- 
Kong, 1875. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 147 

" During the same period three British steamers were running be- 
tween Canton and Hong-Kong, — the ^Corsair/ the ^ Canton/ and the 
'Hong-Kong.' In 1854 the late Mr. Robert Sturgis, Mr. J. B. Endi- 
cott, and myself sent to New York for a larger class steamer for this 
river trade, and in her (under command of Captain Sampson) came 
the late Captain George U. Sands as chief engineer; she being called, 
I think, the ' Fung Shung' when she left New York, but the new name 
of ' River Bird,' suggested by my partner, Mr. Tuckerman (late United 
States Minister in Greece), w'as given her here. In 1854 the steamer 
'Carolina' was bought for me in California, and brought over by Cap- 
tain Sampson in 1855; but I sent her to Calcutta, where also the 
'River Bird' was sent by Mr. Sturgis after the war of 1856 stopped 
the river traffic. Hostilities here continued until 1860, though after 
the treaty of Tientsin, in 1858, there was a partial resumption of busi- 
ness. Meantime, Captain Sampson had returned to California and 
brought over the ' Williaraette.' Soon after the ' White Cloud' came 
out from New York, chiefly for Mr. Sturgis's and Captain Sands's 
account, and next the ' Hankow,' both under steam, followed later by 
the 'Kiushau' in pieces, to be set up at Whampoa. The 'Fire-Dart' 
was sent down from Shanghai, followed thence, later, by the ' Po-yang' 
and 'Kiu-Kiang.' The 'Hankow' was destroyed by fire here, and the 
' Po-yang' was lost in a typhoon near Macao." ^ 

1S36. — Proposed Invulnerable Steam Battery and Tor- 
PEDO-BoAT. — The New York Times, in 1836, says, "Clinton Roose- 
velt, of New York, has invented an invulnerable steam battery. It is 
rendered invulnerable by making the bow and stern of the vessel alike 
sharp and plating them with polished iron armor, with high bulwarks, 
and a sharp roof plated in like manner, with the design of glancing 
the balls. The means of offense are a torpedo made to lower on near- 
ing an enemy, and driven by a mortar into the enemy's side under 
w^ater, where, by a fusee, it will explode. There is also a large cannon 
at each end of the battery, and mortars to throw combustibles upon 
the sails and decks of opponents. There are means to prevent balls 
reaching any part of the machinery, and the design is always to fight 
the vessel end-on." 

This device seems not to have been put to practical experiment, but 
most of the ideas have been adopted or incorporated in vessels of a 
later date. 

1836. — Commodore Barron's Prow- Ship. — A model of Com- 
modore James Barron's prow-ship was exhibited in the rotunda of the 
Capitol at Washington in 1836, and is now preserved in the Seaman- 
ship building at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. Its in- 



1 Gideon Nye, author of "History of American Commerce with China," to 
Thomas Gibbons. 



148 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

veiitor thus described this, the first steam ram ever proposed, under 
date February 11, 1836 : 

^' I would propose that a vessel be constructed of solid logs of light 
timber, the gravity of which would not exceed four- tenths that of water, 
and be of such bulk that the upper part of the solid log- work of the 
centre vessel would float six or eight feet above its surface. 

" Let this vessel, or combination of vessels, be of large dimensions, 
say from one hundred and fifty to two hundred or two hundred and 
thirty feet long, and seventy or eighty feet wide, and resembling in 
their form a steamboat of the treble construction. The prow should 
be very strong, and for a few feet aft a little sharp ; but not so much 
so as to impair its strength. The point of it should not be reduced to 
a less thickness than three or four feet, and not exceeding in its whole 
length beyond the bow of the centre vessel fifteen or twenty feet, and 
that prominence covered with iron plates from three to four inches 
thick, eight or ten inches wide, and six or eight feet long on each arm, 
formed into an acute angle to fit the shape of the prow, and enlarged 
at their junction on the point of the prow to about eight or ten inches 
in thickness, and rounding outwards in sharp-pointed knobs, cut in 
large diamond form. These plates should be placed four or five inches 
apart from each other, and let half their thickness into the wood, which 
will produce a saw-shaped space upon the prow, and prevent the 
glancing of the vessel from her object, either up or down, or side- 
ways. 

" The logs that form the prow should be at least two feet square, 
thirty or forty f^Qt long, and of the hardest and toughest wood, such 
as oak or elm, and occupy a space of ten or twelve feet up and down, 
and be supported on each side by the same kind of timber. The iron 
plates should be securely bolted through the whole mass, but particu- 
larly so through these logs of hard timber. To protect the crew and 
machinery from shot, let the guard-vessels without the centre vessel be 
built twelve or fifteen feet wide, and of solid white pine timber, and 
projected a sufficient distance from the sides of the centre vessel to 
embrace the paddle-wheels. These barricade vessels should be of suf- 
ficient elevation to cover the upper part of the paddle-wheels. Each 
of the lower parts must form a bottom similar to the centre one, and 
be secured to it forward and aft by the cross logs of which the centre 
vessel is constructed, projecting from her sides to such a distance as to 
allow spaces for the paddle-wheels on each side, and from as many 
points above the water between the paddle-wheels as might be required 
for strength. 

'^ The water is admitted to these paddle-wheels between the bows 
of these vessels through a channel formed by a long inverted arch, the 
lowest point of which must descend below the level of the lower part 
of the wheels. The solid log-work, forward and aft of the centre 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 149 

vessel, should form a mass of at least twelve or fifteen feet in thickness, 
or as the side vessels. 

" Over the top of these vessels lay a tier of logs about two f^^t 
square, which will serve as a protection to the crew and machinery 
from any assaults by boarding, etc. The middle vessel may be hol- 
lowed out, at a proper distance from her extremes, if more buoyancy 
is required than the timber itself gives, except amidships, and there 
the log-work should be continuous from the prow all the way aft. 

^^ The object of this vessel is to destroy men-of-war by running 
into them with such impetuosity as to break down their sides suffi- 
ciently to admit water in such quantities as would defy all possible 
efforts to prevent immediate sinking. 

" Only about ten or twelve feet of the prow of this vessel ought to 
be allowed to strike the ship that is assailed ; the other parts, above 
and below, should recede or incline aft, and this ten or twelve feet 
space should be so situated as to come in contact wath the side of the 
enemy five or six feet above the water and five or six feet below its 
surface. The resistance to the stroke would be less impeded than it 
would be were it given by a prow of greater extent, and of course it 
would be more certain to pierce or break down that part of the side of 
the enemy's ship which it might come in contact with. Three steam- 
engines, of one hundred and twenty horse-power each, would propel 
such a vessel at the rate of eight or ten miles, or more, per hour, and 
should be preferred to larger ones, as they would be less liable to 
damage from the shock to which they might be exposed when the 
vessel should come at her full speed in contact with the enemy. 

^' Let those who are curious or doubtful of the efSciency of this 
plan calculate the effect which would be produced on a stationary body 
by a concussion so violent as would be occasioned by a stroke of the 
prow of this massive vessel. To make it apparent that the strongest 
ships in the world are entirely inadequate to resist such force, it need 
only be observed that they seldom come in contact with each other 
with any violence without sinking or sustaining a most destructive 
deo^ree of damao^e. 

'^ Ancient as well as modern history furnishes us w^ith many proofs 
of the decided effects of this mode of attack. The Romans and Car- 
thaginians were in the practice of running into each other's vessels at 
their greatest speed, impelled by their oars ; and it is recorded of them 
that when they found their enemies entangled with their friends, so as 
to render them stationary for the moment of their assault, that it sel- 
dom failed to produce that description of destruction contemplated by 
the adoption of this invention ; but the power of steam and the solid 
construction of this vessel would give this mode of attack a decided 
advantage over all other attempts of a similar nature ever heretofore 
resorted to, and beyond a doubt insure success. 



150 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

" The proof of the effects of an attack made by a whale on the 
skip ^ Essex' of New Bedford, in the year 1819, is conclusive that no 
construction of a ship now known could resist the shock of such a 
vessel as the one I have described. A circumstance not very dissimilar 
occurred to Captain Jones, in the United States ship ^ Peacock/ in the 
Pacific Ocean. 

^' The instances of destruction occasioned to vessels by one running 
into another are too numerous to admit of a doubt that if the plan 
recommended above should be adopted on a proper scale, it could never 
fail of effecting its object. 

^^ The rudder is attached to the centre vessel, and must be moved 
by a wheel, which may be placed on the upper surface of the centre 
vessel, under the roof or main covering, either forward or aft ; but I 
should prefer its being aft, and it should be considerably forward and 
lower down than in ordinary cases. A breast-work should be raised 
aft, for the protection of officers and others ; also for the chimneys and 
steam-pipes, in their proper places, which should be circular. 

"The timber alluded to in the above description is the white 
pine, — ^ Pinus st7'obns/ — poplar, — ^ Liriodendron tidipifera/ — and some 
species of the gum, none of which exceed four-tenths of the gravity 
of water. 

" The prow mentioned in the first part of this description is not of 
such a form as I would either use myself or recommend to those whom 
I would allow to use my invention : that form might become fixed in 
the body assailed, but the form represented by the drawing will surely 
clear itself. 

"In speaking of the different presentations of the prow and its 
momentum, it is to be considered as in contact with a solid body. 

" Dimensions, etc., of the steam prow-ship : 





Length. 


Width. 


Depth. 


Number of 




Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Cubic Feet, 


Middle vessel . . 


. . . . 150 


20 


30 


90,000 


Side vessds . . . . 


. . each 125 


12 


30 


both 90,000 



Number of cubic feet in the three vessels, 180,000. 

Weight of each cubic foot of white pine in the three vessels, 24 pounds. 
Specific gravity of the three vessels, 4,320,000 pounds, or 1963 tons. 
Specific gravity of the three vessels multiplied by their velocity gives, as the 
whole momentum of the three vessels, 43,200,000 pounds. 
Momentum on each foot of the prow, 900,000 pounds." 

1836. — Steam Tow-Boats on the Delaware. — Steam tow- 
boats were introduced upon the Delaware in 1836, as appears from 
the following advertisement which appeared in the first number of the 
Philadelphia Ledger, March 25, 1836 : 

" Philadelphia Steam Tow-Boat Co. 

" A meeting of the stockholders will be held on Saturday evening 
next, at the room of the Board of Trade, in the Exchange, at 7 o'clock. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 151 

'^Merchants generally, who take an interest in facilitating the 
navigation of the Delaware by means of steam tow-boats, are respect- 
fully invited to attend. 

'^ By order of the Board of Directors, 

'' D. B. Stagey, Secretary:' 

1836. — Registered Steam-Yessels of Great Britain. — 
The number of registered steam-vessels in Great Britain in 1836 was 
three hundred and ninety-seven. One hundred and fifty-three were 
under fifty tons, and one hundred and eighteen more under one hun- 
dred tons. The number above one hundred tons was one hundred and 
twenty-six. The largest, the '^ Monarch,'^ of London, measured only 
five hundred and eighty-seven, and no other exceeded four hundred 
tons. The newspapers of this year speak of ^' an immense steam- 
frigate, to be called the ' Gorgon,^ to be built in London. She is to 
be eleven hundred tons, and will carry twelve guns, and is larger than 
the old seventy-fours.^' 

In 1837 the number and tonnage of steam-vessels belonging to the 
British empire, distinguishing British possessions in Europe from the 
British plantations, w^as — 

Vessels. Tonnage, 

England '. 432 37,240 

Scotland 109 13,368 

Ireland 87 18,437 

Total for United Kingdom 628 69,045 

Isles of Guernsey, Jersey, and Man •. 6 832 

British Plantations 44 8,411 

Total for all 678 78,288 

THE FIRST PRACTICAL SCREW-STEAMERS. 

1836. — Captain John Ericsson,^ a native of Sweden, who had for 
some time previous to the date of his patent for propelling vessels been 
a resident in England, and was well known as a mechanician of origi- 
nality and skill, obtained a patent in England, July 13, 1836, for a 
spiral propeller consisting of two broad thin hoops with eight fans, each 
fixed on a shaft, the outer hoop revolving in a contrary direction and 
at a greater velocity to the inner one. This propeller was to be en- 
tirely submerged abaft the rudder, the shaft passing through the stern- 
post ; the rudder was divided into two parts, connected by a strong iron 
stay on each side, having a wide bend to allow the rudder to traverse 
clear of the shaft. Before the construction of his first vessel, Captain 
Ericsson experimented in a circular bath in London with a model boat, 
which was propelled by a screw. This model boat was fitted with a 
small engine supplied with steam by a pipe leading from a steam-boiler 

^ Eric is in Scandinavian countries the same as Enrico in Italian, Enrique in 
Spanish, Heinrich in German, Henri in French, and Henry in English. So that 
Mr. Ericsson may be called Mr. Henry son. 



152 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

over the centre of the bath and descending to within a foot of the 
water-line, where it was branched off by a swivel-joint and connected 
with the engine in the boat. Steam being admitted in this pipe, the 
engine in the boat was put in action, and motion was thus communi- 
cated to the propeller. This model, though less than three feet long, 
performed its voyage about the basin at the rate of upward of three 
miles an hour. 

His next step in the invention was the construction of a wooden 
boat forty-five feet long, eight feet beam, three feet draught of water, 
with two propellers, each five feet two inches in diameter. So successful 
was this experiment that when steam was turned on for the first time 
the boat moved at once upward of ten miles an hour without any 
alteration in her machinery. This vessel was named by the inventor 
the *^ Francis B. Ogden,'^ in compliment to the United States consul 
at Liverpool, who was the first to appreciate and encourage his efforts. 
The vessel was built at Wapping, by Mr. Gulliver, boat-builder, and 
was constructed solely for the purpose of testing Ericsson's pro- 
peller. 

The following description of her motive-power was published in 
the London Mechanics' Magazine for June, 1837 : 

" The propelling apparatus is placed at the stern, and works en- 
tirely under the water. It consists of a peculiar application of the old 
and well-known principle of the water-screw, by which a great propelling 
power is concentrated in a small space. Of the degree of power con- 
centrated no better proof can be adduced than the fact that the speed 
of four and a half knots, against wind and tide, was produced by an 
apparatus measuring only five feet two inches in diameter, of two 
feet two inches wide, weighing only six hundred and fifteen pounds, 
and worked by a high-pressure engine having two cylinders of four- 
teen-inches stroke and twelve inches diameter, and which, during the 
experiment, made only sixty strokes per minute, and showed a press- 
ure of not more than fifty pounds to the square inch. The new pro- 
pelling apparatus consists of two short cylinders of thin wrought iron 
supported by arms of a peculiar form, which are placed entirely under 
the water at the stern and made to revolve in contrary directions round 
a common centre. To the outer periphery of each cylinder is attached 
a series of spiral planes or plates, which may be placed at any angle, 
according to the effect sought to be obtained, whether it be great speed 
or great propelling power. 

'* The apparatus may be made to ship and unship at pleasure, the 
engine that works it may also be loco-movable, so as to be worked 
upon deck and any part of the deck, and in these two peculiarities we 
are inclined to think the chief advantage of this new step in steam- 
navigation will be found to consist. Sailing-vessels may by this 
means command all the aid that steam can give them without divest- 



HISTORY OF STUAJI NAVIGATION. 153 

ing theaiselves of any peculiar fitness for long sea voyages or undergo 
any change in their original construction." ^ 

As noticed, the " Ogden" when first tried, April, 1837, upon the 
Thames, attained a speed of te7i miles an hour. She subsequently 
towed schooners of one hundred and forty tons seven miles an hour, 
and the American packet-ship '' Toronto," of six hundred and fifty 
tons register, at the rate of more than five English miles an hour, ac- 
cording^ to the followincr certificate : 

'' Packet-ship ' Toronto,' 
''I:s THE Thames, 28th May, 1837. 
'' We feel pleasure in certifying that your experimental steamboat, 
the ' Francis B. Ogden,' has this morning towed our ship at the rate of 
four and a half knots through the water, and against tide. 

^' E. Xashly, Pilot, 
" H. R. Hooey, JIate. 
" To Captain Ericsson." 

The London engineers looked upon the experiment with silent 
neglect, and when the subject was laid before the British Admiralty it 
failed to attract its favorable notice. Accounts of the experiments, 
with favorable mention, appeared in the Times, and other public jour- 
nals ; also in the Civil Engineer's and Arckited^s Journal, the London 
Journal of Arts and Sciences, the London Mechanics' Magazine, and 
similar publications. 

Perceiving its peculiar and admirable fitness for ships of war, Erics- 
son was confident that the Lords of the Admiralty would at once order 
the construction of a war-steamer on the new principle. He therefore 
invited them to an excursion in tow of his experimental boat. Ac- 
cordingly the Admiralty barge was ordered to Somerset House, and 
Ericsson's little steamer w^as lashed alongside of it. 

A lecture before the Boston Lyceum in December, 1843, by John 
O. Sargent, supplies the following graphic description of the trip : 

'' The barge contained Sir Charles Adam, senior Lord of the Ad- 
miralty ; Sir William Symonds, surveyor of the British navy ; Sir 
Edward Parry, the commander of the second British North Pole Ex- 
pedition ; Captain Beaufort, the hydrographer of the royal navy, and 
other scientific and naval officers. 

*' In anticipation of a severe scrutiny from so distinguished a per- 
sonage as the chief constructor of the British navy, the inventor had 
carefully prepared plans of his mode of propulsion, which were spread 
on the damask cloth of the magnificent barge. To his utter astonish- 
ment, as we may well imagine, this scientific gentleman ^ did not 
appear to take the slightest interest in his explanations. On the con- 

1 Vol. xxvii. p. 130. - Sir William Symonds. 

11 



154 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

trary, with those expressive shrugs of the shoulder and shakes of the 
head which convey so much without absolutely committing the actor, 
— with an occasional sly, mysterious undertone remark to his col- 
leagues, — he indicated plainly that though his humanity would not 
permit him to give a worthy man cause for unhappiness, yet ^ he could 
an' if he would' demonstrate by a single word the utter futility of the 
invention. 

" Meanwhile, the little steamer proceeded at a steady progress of 
ten miles an hour through the arches of the South wark and London 
bridges towards Limehouse and the steam-engine manufactory of the 
Messrs. Seward. Their lordships having landed and inspected the 
huge piles of the marine-engines intended for his Majesty's steamers, 
with a look at their favorite propelling apparatus, the ^ Morgan paddle- 
wheel,' re-embarked, and were safely returned to Somerset House by 
the noiseless and unseen propeller of the new steamer. 

"On parting. Sir Charles Adam, with a sympathizing air, shook 
Ericsson cordially by the hand, and thanked him for the trouble he 
had been at in showing him and his friends this interesting experi- 
ment, adding that he feared he had put himself to too great an ex- 
pense and trouble. Notwithstanding this ominous ending of the day's, 
excursion, Ericsson felt confident that their lordships would not fail to 
perceive the importance of the invention. To his surprise, however, 
a few days afterwards a letter written by Captain Beaufort, at the sug- 
gestion, probably, of the Lords of the Admiralty, was put into his hands, 
in which that gentleman, who had witnessed the experiment, expressed 
his regret that their lordships had been very much disappointed at its 
results. The reason was altogether inexplicable to the inventor; for 
the speed attained at the trial far exceeded anything that had been 
accomplished by any paddle-wheel steamer on so small a scale. 

" An accident soon relieved his astonishment. The subject having 
been started at a dinner-table where a friend of Ericsson was present, 
Sir William Symonds ingeniously remarked that 'even if the propeller 
had the power of propelling a vessel, it would be found altogether use- 
less in practice, because the power being applied in the stern, it would 
be absolutely impossible to make the vessel steer.' It may not be 
obvious to every one how this naval philosopher derived his conclusion ; 
but his hearers doubtless acquiesced in his oracular proposition, and 
were amused at the idea of ' undertaking to steer a vessel when the 
power was applied in her stern.' 

" But we may well excuse the British Admiralty for exhibiting no 
interest in the invention when the engineering corps of the empire 
arrayed itself in opposition to it, alleging that it was constructed upon 
erroneous principles and was full of practical defects ; regarding its 
failure as too certain to authorize any speculation of its success. The 
plan of screw propulsion was specially submitted to many distinguished 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION, 155 

engineers, and publicly discussed in the scientific journals ; and there 
was scarcely any one but the inventor who refused to acquiesce in the 
nunaerous demonstrations i)roving the vast loss of mechanical power 
which must attend the substitute for the old-fashioned paddle-wheel/' 

In August, 1837, a lithograph of the apparatus of the '^ F. B. 
Ogden" was published in London. The machinery was subsequently 
removed and applied to other purposes. . 

The '' Novelty.'^ — In the winter of 1837 the " Novehy,'' a canal- 
boat, was fitted with Ericsson's propeller, and sent to ply on the canal 
between Manchester and London, England. The propellers were but 
two feet six inches in diameter, and were driven by an engine of ten 
horse-power; nevertheless, the boat realized a speed of eight or nine 
miles an hour. This is the first screw-boat ever employed for com- 
mercial purposes, but in a short time she was laid up, owing to the 
failure of her owners. 

Although Ericsson's invention was treated with indifference by the 
highest naval scientific authority of England, Mr. Ogden did not lose 
his interest or belief in it. He was distinguished for his attainments 
in mechanical science, and is entitled to the honor of having first applied 
the principle of the expansive power of steam, and of having originated 
the idea of right-angular cranks for marine engines. His practical 
experience and long study of the subject — for he was the first to stem 
the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi, and first to navigate the ocean 
by steam alone — enabled him at once to perceive the truth of the in- 
ventor's demonstrations. 

Other circumstances consoled Ericsson for the rejection of his pro- 
peller by the Admiralty. The subject was brought to the notice of 
Captain Robert F. Stockton, United States navy, then in London, who 
was induced to accompany the inventor on one of his experimental 
trips on the Thames. Captain Stockton must be credited with being 
the first naval officer who dared to act upon the suggestions of Ericsson 
as to the application of his propeller to ships of war. He saw the 
importance of the invention, and his acute judgment enabled him to 
predict it was destined to work a revolution in naval architecture. 
After making a trip in the ^' Ogden," from London Bridge to Green- 
wich, he ordered Mr. Ericsson to build for him forthwith two iron 
boats, for the United States, with steam machinery and propeller on 
the plan rejected by the British Admiralty. '^ I do not want," said 
Captain Stockton, '' the opinions of scientific men : what I have seen 
this day satisfies me." At a dinner at Greenwich, Captain Stockton 
made several predictions respecting the new invention, all of which 
have been realized. To the inventor he said, in words of no unmean- 
ing compliment, ^^ We will make your name ring on the Delaware as 
soon as we get the propeller there." 

Captain Stockton not only ordered, on his own account, two iron 



156 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

boats, but at once brought the subject before the government of the United 
States, and had numerous plans and models made at his own expense, 
explaining the peculiar fitness of the new invention for ships of war. 
So completely was he persuaded of its importance, and so determined 
his views should be carried out, that he assured the inventor the gov- 
ernment of the United States would test the propeller on a large scale ; 
Ericsson was so confident that the perseverance and energy of Captain 
Stockton would accomplish all he promised that he abandoned his pro- 
fessional engagements in England and set out for the United States 
at once. 

The '^ Enterprise/^ — Before leaving England, however, he built 
for Mr. John Thomas Woodhouse an iron screw-propeller, which was 
named the '' Enterprise," to run as a passenger-boat on the Ashby-de- 
la-Zouch Canal. Her length was about seventy feet; beam, seven 
feet; and her engine about fourteen horse-power; her speed, from nine 
to ten miles an hour. She commenced running on the canal in August, 
1839, and having run the season through without profit was afterwards 
used as a steam-tug on the Trent and Mersey. 

The Naval Magazine for November, 1837, published at New York 
under the auspices of the United States Naval Lyceum, and which, 
contains a description and drawing of Ericsson's propeller for steam- 
boats, says, ^^ We do it from a conviction that this ingenious engineer 
has discovered a most valuable ifnprovement in the mode of propelling 
vessels by steam,'' and adds, " If it succeeds on a large scale as well as 
it has on the trials already, it must create an entire revolution in the 
mode of propelling by steam.^^ 

1838. — The *^ Robert F. Stockton." — The iron vessel built for 
Captain Stockton was launched from the yard of Messrs. Laird & Co., 
of Birkenhead, the 7th of July, 1838, and named the "Robert F. 
Stockton." A drawing of this vessel as rigged for her voyage across 
the Atlantic illustrates Woodcroft's "History of Steam Navigation." 

On a trial below Black wall the 12th of January, 1839, in the pres- 
ence of thirty gentleman, a distance of nine miles (over the land) was 
passed with the tide in thirty-five minutes, proving her speed in the 
water to be between eleven and twelve miles an hour. The " Stock- 
ton" was seventy feet long, had ten feet beam, and drew six feet nine 
inches of water. The diameter of her propeller was six feet four 
inches. 

To test the power of her propeller, she was made to tow four coal- 
barges with upright sides and square ends, each of fifteen feet beam 
and drawing four and three-quarters feet of water, from Southwark to 
Waterloo Bridge. Steam being set on, full speed was attained in one 
minute, and the distance between the bridges, which is precisely one 
mile, was performed in eleven minutes. 

Considering the square form of the barges, and that they presented 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 157 

together fifty-eight feet one iuch beam, with an average draught of 
four feet four inches, besides the sectional area of the steamer, which 
was fifty-three square feet, and that the propeller, only six feet four 
inches in diameter, occupied less than two feet six inches in length 
behind the stern of the boat, the result was considered very satisfactory. 

The '' Robert F. Stockton'' left England for the United States early 
in April, 1839, under the command of Captain Crane. Her crew 
comprised four men and a boy. She was forty days making the pas- 
sage under sail, and for his daring in crossing the Atlantic in this small 
vessel Captain Crane was presented with the freedom of the city of 
JN"ew York. Her machinery was arranged so that either one or two 
propellers could be used. In her experiment on the Thames she was 
worked with a single propeller. 

The " New Jersey."— In 1840" Captain Stockton sold the '' E. F. 
Stockton" to the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, permission 
having been obtained, by a special act of Congress, to run her in 
American waters, her name at the same time being changed to that of 
"New Jersey." From that date she was in constant employment as a 
steam-tug on the Delaware and Schuylkill, both winter and summer, 
as she was the only vessel capable of towing through the drift ice, pad- 
dle-wheel steamers being of little use for that purpose. The " New 
Jersey" was the first screw-propeller vessel practically used in America, 
although numerous unsuccessful experiments with the screw had been 
previously made. 

In the autumn of 1839, Ericsson came to the United States, and 
still lives (1883) in a green old age to plan new and to perfect his old 
inventions on steam navigation. Before he had been long in America 
he had an opportunity of introducing his propeller into the United 
States navy. 

The "Princeton." — The ''Princeton" war-steamer was built and 
fitted with Ericsson's screw ; the engines also designed by him were so 
constructed as to lie beneath the water-line, and therefore more out of 
reach of shot. These were the first engines made upon this principle, 
and we believe her engines, though compact and eminently successful, 
have never been duplicated in any other vessel in the United States.^ 

The " Pomone." — When Ericsson left England he consigned his 
interests to the guardianship of Count Adolph E. de Rosen, and in 
1843, Count Rosen received an order from the French government to 
fit a 44-gun frigate, the " Pomone," with a propeller on Ericsson's plan, 
with engines of two hundred and twenty horse-power, which were 
to be kept below the water-line. In 1844 the English government had 
the " Amphion" frigate fitted on the same plan, with engines of three 
hundred horse-power. These were the first engines in Europe which 
were kept below the water-line. They were also the first direct-acting 

1 A full description of the "Princeton"' will be found in the next chapter. 



158 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

horizontal engines employed to give motion to the screw. Both vessels 
were completely successful. 

18S6, — Smith's Archimedean Screw. — In 1835, Francis P. 
Smith, a farmer at Hendon, first directed his attention to screw propul- 
sion. In the spring of 1836 he obtained the co-operation of Mr. 
Wright, a banker, and his first patent was granted the 31st of May, 
1836. A model boat, constructed under his supervision and fitted with 
a wooden screw, was then exhibited in operation upon a pond on his 
farm at Hendon and at the Adelaide Gallery in London. At the Ade- 
laide Gallery it was inspected by Sir John Barrow, the secretary of the 
Admiralty, and Messrs. Harris & Bell, of Alexandria, offered to pur- 
chase the invention for the Pasha of Egypt; but their offer was de- 
clined. 

The results with the model boat were so satisfactory that in the 
autumn of 1836, Mr. Smith and his friends constructed a boat of six 
tons burden, and about six horse-power, to further demonstrate the ad- 
vantages of the invention. This boat was fitted with a wooden screw 
of two turns. On the 1st of November, 1836, she was exhibited to 
the public in operation on the Paddington Canal, and continued to ply 
there and on the Thames until the month of September, 1837. During 
one of her trips on the Paddington Canal, in February, 1837, an acci- 
dent occurred which first pointed out the advantage of diminishing the 
length of the screw. The propeller having come in contact with some 
object in the water, about one-half of its length was broken away, and 
no sooner had this been done than the boat quickened her speed and 
was found to realize a better performance than before. In consequence 
of this discovery, a new screw was fitted, of a single turn, and with the 
vessel thus improved, very satisfactory results were obtained. 

Although these experiments established the eligibility of the screw 
as a propeller for canal and river vessels, nothing had yet been done 
that was known or remembered to show that it was applicable to vessels 
navigating the sea. To this point, therefore, Mr. Smith directed his 
attention, and he determined to carry his small vessel to sea with the 
view of ascertaining if she would there exhibit the same efficiency dis- 
played in canal and river navigation. Accordingly, on a Saturday even- 
ing, September, 1837, he proceeded in his miniature vessel from Black- 
wall to Gravesend, and having at three in the morning taken in a pilot, 
went on to Ramsgate, and reached that place during divine service. 
From Ramsgate he proceeded to Dover, where a trial of the vessel's 
performance was made in the presence of Mr. John Wright and Mr. 
Peak, civil engineer. From Dover he w^ent on to Folkestone, and 
thence to Hythe, returning again to Folkestone. The distance between 
Hythe and Folkestone, about five miles, was accomplished in three- 
quarters of an hour. On the 25th of September he returned to Lon- 
don, in weather so stormy and boisterous that it was accounted danger- 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 159 

ous for any vessel of so small a size to put to sea. The courage of the 
undertaking, and the unexpected efficiency of the propeller, rendered 
the little vessel during this voyage an object of great interest; and her 
progress was watched with solicitude from the cliffs by nautical and 
naval men, who were loud in their praises. These favorable impres- 
sions reached the Admirahy, and produced a visible effect there. 

In March, 1838, the Lords of the Admiralty requested Mr. Smith 
to have the vessel tried under their inspection.^ Two trials were ac- 
cordingly made which were considered satisfactory, and thenceforth 
the adoption of the propeller for the naval service was deemed not im- 
probable. 

Before finally deciding, however, upon the adoption of the pro- 
peller, the Lords of the Admiralty considered it desirable that an ex- 
periment should be made with a vessel of at least two hundred tons, 
and Mr. Smith and the gentlemen associated with him in the enter- 
prise accordingly resolved to construct the " xlrchimedes." 

1839. — The^' Archimedes/' — This vessel, of two hundred and 
thirty-seven tons burden, was designed by Mr. Pascoe, laid down in 
the spring of 1838, and launched on the 18th of October following, 
and made her first trip in 1839. She was fitted up with a screw of 
one convolution, which was set in the dead-wood, and was propelled 
by two engines of the collective power of ninety horses. Her cost was 
ten thousand five hundred pounds. She was built under the persua- 
sion that her performance would be considered satisfactory if a speed 
was attained of four or five knots an hour, and that in such an event 
the invention would be immediately adopted for the service of the 
navy. Nearly twice that speed was actually obtained. 

After various trials on the Thames and at Sheerness, the " Archi- 
medes,'^ on the 15th of May, 1839, proceeded to sea. She made the 
trip from Gravesend to Portsmouth, under adverse circumstances of 
wind and water, in twenty hours. At Portsmouth she was tried 
against the ^' Vulcan,'' one of the swiftest steam-vessels in her 
Majesty's service. The trial took place before Admiral Fleming, Cap- 
tain Crispin, and other competent authorities, who acquired from the 
result a high opinion of the efficiency of the screw as a propeller, 
which they expressed in writing to Mr. Smith. 

The following description of the '^ Archimedes" is from a news- 
paper of the time : ^ 

"The 'Archimedes' is rigged as a three-masted schooner, with her 
masts raking. Her length is one hundred and. twenty-five feet', aver- 
age draught of water, ten feet ; capacity, two hundred and forty tons ; 
power of engines, eighty horses. 

"The mode of propulsion may be said to be by a portion only of 

1 This was a year or more after their trip in Ericsson's " F. B. Ogden." 
- The Inverness Courier. 



160 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

the Archimedean screw. When the vessel was first tried, a full turn 
of that species of screw was employed. The inventor afterwards, for 
the sake of compactness, introduced the double-threaded screw, with 
half a turn of each thread, as more applicable to this vessel, although 
he prefers the other. This is of iron, and is fixed in an opening on 
the run of the vessel, above the keel, and about ten feet forward from 
the rudder. The screw works transversely with the keel, radiating the 
water all round as it turns with a backward movement. Its diameter 
is five feet nine inches, and the length fore and aft about five feet. 
It almost appears incredible that so small a portion of machinery 
could propel a vessel of such length, but the hold it takes of the water, 
and the velocity with which it turns, are the elements of its power. It 
is quite under the surface, and is therefore invisible to spectators, 
either on board or on shore. It is worked by a spindle forming its 
axle, which runs fore and aft and is connected with the steam-engine, 
the velocity being acquired by a combination of spur-wheels and 
pinions. Each revolution of the larger wheel turned by the cranks of 
the engines gives, by the multiplied power, five and one-third revolu- 
tions of the screw, which consequently revolves at the rate of from one 
hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty turns in a minute, ac- 
cording to the speed of the engine. In consequence of the powerful 
stream thus propelled against the rudder, the ship is actually found to 
obey the helm much more readily and to be therefore more under 
command in steering than either a common steam- or sailing-vessel, so 
that she can easily turn round in one and a quarter or one and a half 
of her own length, while it is well known that an ordinary steamer 
cannot do so with the paddles in less than six times her length.^ The 
shafts of the steam-engine work fore and aft, the cranks turning trans- 
versely, so as to communicate the power directly, by cog-wheels, to the" 
screw ; and there is one considerable advantage arising from this ar- 
rangement of the machinery, — namely, that the cylinders, and in fact 
the whole w^eight of the engine, rests immediately over the keel, where 
the vessel is the least liable to straining or twisting from the effects of 
undue pressure. The larger wheel is toothed or cogged with horn- 
beam (timber). 

" The action of the screw is different from the operation of ^ sculling,^ 
in the particular that in sculling there are but two motions, the chief 
force being derived from the lateral ; whereas the screw exerts an 
equal degree of power for every part of its surface towards the periph- 
ery in the direction of the radii. The successive columns of water, 
as fast as presented, are forced away by the act of rotation, pretty 
much as the earth is turned away from the mold- board of a plow. 
The action of the screw may be said to bear the same relation to ^ scuU- 

^ This was a confounding answer to Sir William Symond's opinion of Erics- 
son's boat, — " It "would be absolutely impossible to make the vessel steer." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 161 



• 



ing^ which the use of paddle-wheels does to the ordinary mode of pro- 
pulsion by oars. 

"The ^Archimedes' has made several trips and works well. Her 
speed is not quite so great as that of a first-rate steamboat in calm 
weather, but this is believed to result from the fact that her engines 
are on a new principle, and made by an inexperienced engineer. The 
full power of the boat is eighty horse-power, but in reality they do not 
work up to more than sixty. 

*^One of the greatest advantages of this invention, as applicable to 
all descriptions of shipping, is the circumstance that the screw may be 
thrown out of gear in two minutes and the vessel be put under sail 
alone. The screw is then turned by the motion of the vessel, but the 
drag is not more than half a mile in ten. Even the drag itself admits 
of being removed, as provision is made for totally unshipping the 
screw and bringing it upon deck. 

'^The advantages of the screw over the paddle-wheels in ocean- 
steamers, it will be readily seen, must be very great. The leaning 
over of the ship often throws one of the paddle-wheels out of water 
and immerses the other too deeply. The screw is always in the water. 
The saving of fuel will be considerable, as the fires may be extin- 
guished on board a ship propelled by the screw and the vessel used "as 
a sailing-ship when the wind is full and fair. As a vessel of war the 
advantages would be palpable. This opinion has been expressed by 
officers of the royal navy who have witnessed the performance of the 
* Archimedes.' When it is recollected that this invention is yet in its 
infancy, and that the ' Archimedes' is the first vessel on a large scale 
that has been constructed on the new principle, we may readily infer 
that the introduction of the screw in the construction of steamers is 
destined to work an important change in one of the most essential 
features of naval architecture." 

Soon after this the " Archimedes" had to return to London, an acci- 
dent having occurred to her boilers, and new boilers were fitted, which 
occupied five months. She was then- sent to the Texel, by request of 
the Dutch government, whose interest her performances had excited ; 
but on the way she broke the crank-shaft of one of her engines. She 
was consequently put into the hands of Messrs. Miller, Ravenhill & 
Co. for a complete repair, and at the same time the form of her screw 
was altered by dividing the one whole turn into two half-turns, which, 
being placed on the opposite sides of the axis, gave to the propeller the 
character of a double-threaded screw of half a turn. In April, 1840, 
the Admiralty dispatched Captain Chappell, of the royal navy, and 
Mr. Lloyd, chief engineer of the Woolwich Dock- Yard, to conduct a 
series of experiments upon the vessel at Dover. These experiments 
were carried on during April and May, and the speed of the '^ Archi- 
medes" was tested relatively with that of the mail-packets on the" 

12 



162 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Dover station. The result was a highly favorable report to the Ad- 
miralty, stating that the success of this new method of propulsion had 
been completely proved. Immediately after these experiments the 
vessel was placed at the disposal of Captain Chappell, who, accom- 
panied by Mr. Smith, performed in her the circumnavigation of Great 
Britain, visiting every seaport of importance. Everywhere the vessel 
became an object of wonder and admiration. Heretofore engineers 
had been almost unanimous in opinion that a screw would occasion a 
loss of power from the obliquity of its action, and the consequent dis- 
persion of the water, and concluded, therefore, that it would be ineli- 
gible as a propeller. But it was impossible for them to resist facts 
such as the performance of the ^' Archimedes" afforded. 

The London Nautical Magazine at this time took decided ground 
against the screw as a means of propulsion in the following article : 

" Paddle-wheel versus Screw. Trial of Strength. — A few days 
ago the following experiment was made in the river to test the power 
of the Archimedean screw, as compared with the common paddle- 
wheel, in presence of Mr. Fawcet, the eminent steam-engine builder 
of Liverpool, Mr. Barnes, and other gentlemen. The ^ Archimedes,' 
with Mr. Smith's screw-propeller, and the ^ William Gunston' tug- 
boat, with common paddles, were lashed together, stern to stern, with 
an interval between them of from twenty to thirty ^qqL The former 
vessel has two engines of twenty-five horse-power each; the latter, 
two of twenty. 

" The ^ Archimedes' was employed to tow the ^ William Gunston' 
with her engines and paddle-wheels in a state of rest, and this she did 
with ease, the object of this preliminary trial being to ascertain that the 
working efficiency of the screw was not impaired by the rela4;ive posi- 
tion of the two vessels. The steam was then let on to the engines of 
the * William Gunston,' and a fair trial of strength commenced between 
them. In a little while the ^Archimedes' was seen to have lost all 
power over her rival; a minute or two more and the ^ William Guns- 
ton' was tugging the * Archimedes' after her in spite of the superior 
engine-power employed on the opposite direction, and in spite also of 
her much-lauded screw-propeller, — at first slowly, and as it were inter- 
mittingly, but at a constantly increased rate of speed, till at last it 
reached the usual tug-boat speed of from eight to nine knots per hour. 

*'So complete and convincing an experiment, as recorded in the 
above extract from the Jilechanic^s Magazine^ must indeed have been 
a most interesting sight, the result of which has fully confirmed our 
opinion of Mr. Smith's invention, as being one of those that are theo- 
retically most ingenious^ but in practice deficient. In the midst of 
the laudatory accounts of the doings of the ^ Archimedes,' which fol- 
1 Vol. xxxii. p. 149, No. 885, for July. 



HI810RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 163 

lowed her all round the coast, we briefly recorded our opinion among 
our ^ Shakings/ and that too in spite of her beating an old government 
steamer at Liverpool. * We ask then, ^ Where is the power of the 
" Archimedes" to contend with the ocean waves T And ' echo answers, 
Where ?' Let her keep to still water, and Mr. Smith's propeller will 
prove as good in practice as it has in theory. We understand it is 
being adopted on canals.'' ^ 

After the " Archimedes" had accomplished the circumnavigation 
of Great Britain, she made a voyage to Oporto. This voyage was per- 
formed in sixty-eight and a half hours, and was at the time held to be 
the quickest on record. She also visited Antwerp and Amsterdam, 
passed through the North Holland Canal, and made a great number of 
trips to other places, leaving everywhere the impression that she had 
succeeded in demonstrating the practicability of propelling vessels by 
a screw in an efficient manner. She was next loaned to Mr. Brunei, 
who fitted her with screws of several different forms, and performed 
various experiments with her at Bristol. The result of his experi- 
ments was so satisfactory that the " Great Britain," orginally intended 
to be propelled by paddles, was altered and adapted for the reception 
of a screw. 

Meanwhile, the Admiralty determined upon adopting the screw for 
the navy, and in the merchant service an opinion had arisen equally 
favorable to its eligibility. 

In 1840 and 1841 the "Princess Eoyal" was built at ISTew Castle, 
the " Margaret" and " Senator" were built at Hull, and the " Great 
Northern," a vessel of fifteen hundred tons burden, was laid down at 
Londonderry, in Ireland.^ These were merchant screw-vessels. In 
1841 the "Rattler," the first screw-vessel built for the British navy, 
was laid down at Sheerness as a paddle-wheel steamer, but while on the 
stocks was changed to a screw-steamer. This vessel, of eight hundred 
and eighty-eight tons burden, was launched in the spring of 1 843 
The " Rattler" was fitted with a screw in every respect the counter- 
part of the screw of the " Archimedes," — viz., a double-threaded screw 
of half a convolution. The length of the screw was subsequently re- 
(luced, and it was found that best results were obtained with a length of 
screw answering to one-sixth of a convolution. In the years 1843, 1844, 
and 1845 an extensive series of experiments were made on the " Rat- 
tler" upon screws of various forms, and under varying circumstances of 
wind and water. The performance of the vessel was so satisfactory that 
the Lords of the Admiralty ordered twenty vessels to be fitted with the 
screw, under Mr. Smith's superintendence. The screws introduced 
into these vessels in every case were double-threaded screws, set in the 

1 London Nautical Magazine, September, 1840. 

2 A description of these vessels will be found in the next chapter. 



164 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

deadwood, after the fashion adopted in the "Archimedes" and the 
'' Eattler.'^ 

Such are the respective merits of Smith and iEricsson in connec- 
tion with the practical introduction of the screw-propeller. Ericsson 
had the advantage in mechanical capacity, and Smith in persistency of 
character. Ericsson, previous to his connection with the screw, was 
an accomplished engineer. Smith was only an amateur, with every- 
thing except the leading idea to learn. Ericsson's mechanical resources 
gave him means of overcoming difficulties which Smith did not pos- 
sess ; and Smith had to accept expedients then usual among engineers 
as his starting-point, while Ericsson could reject those expedients in 
favor of others which his own ingenuity suggested. In bringing up 
the speed of his screw. Smith had to use gearing, as that was the ex- 
pedient which was approved by orthodox engineers; but Ericsson, 
throwing the dogmas of the engineers to the winds, coupled the engine 
immediately to the propeller. This comparative destitution of me- 
chanical resources must have added to the difficulties of Smith. Smithes 
patent was taken out on May 31, 1836 ; Ericsson's patent was taken 
out on the 13th of July, 1836. The first trial of Smith's experimen- 
tal boat was the 31st of May, 1836, and the first trial of Ericsson's 
experimental boat was on the 30th of April, 1837. In the summer 
of 1837, Ericsson exhibited his vessel to the Lords of the Ad- 
miralty, but without result, owing, as is alleged, to the anticipated 
difficulty of steering. In September, 1837, Smith carried his vessel 
to sea, and showed, by repeated experiments, that the objection enter- 
tained to Ericsson's plan did not exist in his. Ericsson's vessel ap- 
pears to have been more efficient than Smith's. Its engine-power was 
greater, and the mechanical details of its construction more perfect. 
But Smith's vessel was also completely successful. She towed the 
" British Queen" steamer in the river, and also the " Lord William 
Bentinck," a heavily-laden ship, at a speed of two and a half miles an 
hour, although there was 'an opposing breeze. Both vessels were there- 
fore successful. 

1837. — Steamers on the Danube. — On the 18th of February, 
1837, six steamers launched by the Austrian government commenced 
running between Pesth and the ports of Lower Hungary. This step 
was hailed in Germany as an important inception of the entire navi- 
gation of the Danube by the Austrian government. 

Of the steam-packets which were to run between Marseilles and 
Constantinople, and between Marseilles and Alexandria, seven vessels 
were this year assembled at Toulon. The " Scamandre" was the first 
vessel to start for Constantinople. She left during the month of April. 
A Russian steamer left Constantinople for Odessa on the 20th of each 
month ; fare, twenty-two dollars. An English steamer was running 
from Constantinople to Trebizond at the beginning and middle of each 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 165 

month, the distance being five hundred and thirty miles. An Austrian 
steamer, however, placed on that station in May, 1837, made the pas- 
sage once a week. 

The steamer " Maria Dorothea'' left Constantinople for Smyrna 
every Monday, and made the voyage in thirty-six hours. An English 
steamer, the " Crescent,'' made the same passage in thirty hours. The 
Levant steamer, which had hitherto run between Smyrna and Athens 
twice a week, made the voyage in about forty-eight hours. The Ionian 
steamers left Corfu for Zante twice a month, the voyage being made in 
about fourteen hours. The English steamer left Corfu the 29th of 
each month, touched at Patras to take the mail, and thence proceeded 
to Malta, touching at Zante, and on to Falmouth, making the voyage 
of nineteen hundred miles in about twenty days. 

Upper cabins in steamers on the great American lakes were first 
introduced in 1837, on board the steamer "Great Western," by Cap- 
tain Augustus Walker, who died at Buffalo, New York, 1865, aged 
sixty-five years. 

1837. — Atlantic Steam Navigation. — The Edinburgh Review^ 
in 1837, in a long article on steam navigation across the Atlantic, 
which was attributed to Dr. Lardner, maintained that until further 
improvements should be made in the construction and management of 
steam- vessels, or the economy of fuel, it would be impossible, as an 
ordinary thing, to make a continuous voyage from New York to Liver- 
pool, and especially from Liverpool to New York. The New York 
Journal of Commerce, in June, 1837, referring to this article, approved 
of its conclusions, and supported them in a long article, concluding, 
" Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the practicability of 
an Atlantic steam voyage, it must be admitted upon all hands that its 
extent, for an uninterrupted run, comes to the extreme verge of the 
possible powers of steam navigation." " To be successful, the nearest 
points of approach to the Eastern and Western continents should be 
chosen as the points of arrival and departure, to increase the proba- 
bilities of success." ^ 

The London Nautical Magazine for March, 1837,^ says, "The time 
is fast approaching when the famous prophecy of the Rev. Dr. Dio- 
nysius Lardner, delivered in Dublin and redelivered in Bristol, ^ that it 
is as easy to go to the moon as to go direct from a port in England to 
New York,' will be tested. There are two vessels at present building 
to run direct from Bristol and London to New York. The Great 
Western Steamship Company is building a vessel at Bristol, which 
will probably make her first trip next August. She is intended to 
carry twenty-five days' coal. The British and American Steam Navi- 

1 See Army and Navy Chronicle^ June 29, 1837, for the Journal of Commerce 
articles and several others. 

2 See also Army and Navy Chronicle for April 13, 1837. 



166 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

gation Company, of London, have contracted for a vessel of seventeen 
hundred and ninety-five tons. This, the largest steam-vessel ever yet 
propelled, will have a capacity for twenty-five days' fuel, eight hundred 
tons measurement goods, and five hundred passengers. We sincerely 
wish both the Bristol vessel and the London one all manner of success ; 
and when we reflect that sixty thousand people have landed at New 
York from January 1 to September 1, and twenty-seven thousand in 
Quebec last year, the increase that will naturally take place when the 
passage is shortened to fifteen days instead of thirty-seven, the present 
outward average of the New York packet-ships, we do not think that 
any of the numerous plans before the public hold out stronger induce- 
ments to the capitalists. 

" It is difficult to calculate the natural benefits that will accrue to 
both countries by the establishment of steam communication between 
them. This much we may affirm, it will greatly improve both coun- 
tries and render perpetual the peace that now happily exists between 
them.'' 

1837. — The Fiest Steam- Whistle. — The first steam-whistle 
used upon a steamboat was on Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, upon 
the " King Philip," Captain Thomas Borden, running between Fall 
River and Providence, in 1837, by Stephen D. Collins. He is still 
(1882) engineer of the '^ Canonicus," of the same line, having been in 
service forty-five years. Having seen a whistle on a locomotive, Mr. 
Collins ordered one to be made for the " King Philip." It was not 
liked at first, but its usefulness as a signal led to its rapid adoption. 

1838. — Steamboats in United States Waters. — A letter pre- 
pared by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in answer 
to a resolution of inquiry of the House of Representatives, 20th of 
June, 1838, communicated many interesting particulars concerning the 
employment of steam-vessels in the United States, and the accidents 
that had happened to them. 

" The number of accidents resulting in loss of life or much injury 
to property from the use of marine steam-engines of every kind in the 
United States is computed to have been about 260. Of these, 253 are 
ascertained, and the rest are estimated. Accidents, by explosions and 
other disasters to steamboats, appear to have constituted a great por- 
tion of the whole^^and are estimated to have equalled 230, two hundred 
and fifteen of which are ascertained. The first of these is believed to 
have occurred in the ^Washington,' on the Ohio River, in 1816. 

" Since the employment of steamboats in the United States it is 
computed that 1300 have been built here. About 260 of these have 
been lost by accident, as many as 240 worn out, and the rest are 
running. 

" The largest boat in the United States is the ^ Natchez,' of 860 
tons, and about 300 horse-power, designed to run between New York 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 167 

and the Mississippi. The ^ Illinois' and the ^ Mattison/ on Lake Erie, 
are next in size, the first being 755 and the last 700 tons. The ^ Massa- 
chusetts/ on Long Island Sound, is the next, being 626 tons, and the 
^ Buffalo,' on Lake Erie,' next largest, being 613 tons. 

'• The largest boats passing Louisville in 1837 were the ^ Uncle 
Sam,' of 490 tons, and the ' Mogul/ of 414 tons ; below Louisville 
the ^Mediterranean/ of 490 tons, and * North America,' of 445 tons, 
on the Ohio, and the ' St. Louis,' of 550 tons, on the Mississippi, were 
running. 

"The whole number of steamboats ascertained and estimated to 
be in this country (1838) is 800. In England, in 1836, the whole 
number of steamboats in that country was computed to have been 600. 
On the Western and Southwestern waters near 400 were supposed to 
be running in 1838, where none were used till 1811, and where, in 
1834, the number was computed to be but 234. On the Ohio Eiver, 
in 1837, 413 steamboats are reported to have passed through the Louis- 
ville and Portland Canal, not including many below and above, which 
never passed through. It is deserving of notice that of the 413 near 
60 went out of use by accidents, decay, etc., within the year; and 104 
of the others were new, and many of them were probably destined to 
run on other rivers. As an illustration of the rapid increase of steamboat 
business on the Ohio, the steamboat passages through the Louisville 
Canal increased from 406, in 1831, to 1501, in 1837, or about four- 
fold in six years. Seventy boats were running in 1870 on the North- 
western lakes, where a few years since the number was very small, 
having been as late as 1835 only 25. Of the 800 steamboats now in 
the United States the greatest number ascertained to be in any State is 
140, in the State of New York. 

" The tonnage of all the steamboats in the United States is com- 
puted to exceed 155,473. Of this, 137,473 is in boats reported. By 
the official returns, the whole tonnage now would probably equal near 
160,000 tons, having been in 1837 153,660. Many boats included in 
those returns have since been lost or worn out, and several new ones 
have been built. 

" The tonnage of each boat averages about 200, and the estimates, 
where the returns have been defective, were on that basis. In England 
the tonnage is estimated to have been 67,969 in 1836. 

" The greatest loss of life on any one occasion in a steamboat was 
by a collision, and the consequent sinking of the ' Monmouth/ in 1837, 
on the Mississippi, when 300 lives were lost. The next greatest were 
by the explosions of the ^Oronoka,' in 1838, on the Mississippi, by 
which 130 (or more) lives were lost; and of the ^Moselle,' at Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, by which between 100 and 120 persons were destroyed. 
The greatest injury to life by accidents to boats from snags and saw- 
yers appears to have been 13 lost, in 1834, on the ^St. Louis,' on the 



168 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Mississippi Eiver. Tlie greatest by shipwreck was in the 'Home/ 
in 1837, on the coast of North Carolina, when 100 persons perished. 
The greatest by fire happened in the *Ben Sherrod,' on the Mis- 
sissippi River, in 1837, when near 130 perished. The number of 
steamboats built in the United States in 1834 was 88 ; in 1837 it was 
184, having increased over 200 per cent in three years. The greatest 
number of steamboats and other steam-machines appear to have been 
constructed at Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville, on the Western 
waters, and New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, on the Atlantic. 
At Louisville alone, from 1819 to 1838, there were built 244 steam- 
engines, 62 of which were for boats. The fuel originally used in steam- 
boats in the United States was wood ; of late years bituminous coal 
has been substituted in many instances, also anthracite coal. The latter, 
from the small space it occupies, seems to possess a decided advantage 
for sea-going vessels, as well as locomotives. 

'' Some steamboats made of iron are believed to be in use in Georgia, 
if not in other parts of this country, though none of that material have 
been manufactured here ; it is computed that their cost is less than those 
of wood, and as they draw less water with the same freight, they are 
most useful on shallow streams. 

'^ The number of steamboats built in the United States during the 
years ending on the 30th of September, 1838 and 1839, were 90 and 
125 respectively."^ 

1837. — What Dr. Lardner said about Transatlantic Nav- 
igation. — It has been frequently said, and it is generally believed, that 
Dr. Dionysius Lardner publicly asserted before the voyages of the 
" Great Western" and ^* Sirius" were accomplished facts, that a steam 
voyage across the Atlantic was a physical impossibility. What he did 
say was, however, quite different, — viz., that such vessels could not be 
made a paying investment for such a voyage without government as- 
sistance or a subsidy, in the then state of steam navigation. 

He says,^ " It cannot be seriously imagined that any one who had 
been conversant with the past history of steam navigation could enter- 
tain the least doubt of the abstract practicability of a steam- vessel 
making the voyage between Bristol and New York. 

"A vessel having as a cargo a couple of hundred tons of coals 
would, cceteris paribus, be as capable of crossing the Atlantic as a vessel 
transporting the same weight of any other cargo. A steamer of the 
usual form and construction would, it is true, labor under comparative 
disadvantages, owing to obstructions presented by her paddle-wheels 
and paddle-boxes ; but still it would have been preposterous to suppose 
that these improvements could have rendered her passage to New York 

1 Extract from the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress, June 
30, 1830. 

2 Museum of Science and Arts, vol. x., 1856. 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 169 

impracticable. But, independently of these considerations, it was a 
well-known fact that long antecedent to the epoch adverted to, the 
Atlantic had actually been crossed by the steamers ^Savannah' and 
* Cura9oa/ . . . Projects had been started, in 1836, by two different 
and opposing interests, one advocating the establishment of a line of 
steamers to ply between the west coast of Ireland and Boston, touching 
at Halifax, and the other a direct line making an uninterrupted trip 
between Bristol and New York. In the year 1836, in Dublin, I advo- 
cated the former of these projects, and in 1837, at Bristol, at the next 
meeting of the British Association, I again urged its advantages, and 
by comparison discouraged the project of a direct line between Bristol 
and New York. When I say that I advocated one of these projects, it 
is needless to add that the popular rumor that I had pronounced the 
Atlantic voyage by steam impracticable is utterly destitute of foun- 
dation/^ 

The meeting took place August 25, 1837, and the report of the 
Times' special reporter which appeared in that paper on the 27th says, 
"Dr. Lardner said he would beg any one, and more especially of those 
who had a direct interest in the inquiry, to dismiss from their minds 
all previously-formed judgments about it, and more especially upon this 
question to be guarded against the conclusions of mere theory ; for if ever 
there was one point in practice of a commercial nature which more 
than another required to be founded on experience, it was this one of 
extending steam navigation to voyages of extraordinary length. He 
was aware that, since the question had arisen, it had been stated that 
his own opinion was averse to it. This statement was totally wrong ; 
but he did feel that great caution should be used in the means of carry- 
ing the project into effect. Almost all depended on the first attempt, 
for a failure would much retard the ultimate consummation of the project. 

^' Mr. Scott Russell said that he had listened with great delight to 
the lucid and logical observations they had just heard. He would add 
one word. Let them try this experiment with a view only to the 
enterprise itself, but on no account try any new boiler or other experi- 
ment, but have a combination of the most approved plans that had yet 
been adopted. 

"After some observations from Messrs. Brunei and Field, Dr. 
Lardner, in reply, said that he considered the voyage practicable, but he 
wished to point out that which would remove the possibility of a doubt, 
because if the first attempt failed it would cast a damp upon the enter- 
prise and prevent a repetition of the attempt.^' ^ 

"\yhat I did affirm in 1836-37,'' continues Dr. Lardner, "was 

that the long sea-voyages by steam which were contemplated could not 

at that time be maintained with that regularity and certainty which 

are indispensable to commercial success by any revenue which could 

1 London Times, August 27, 1837. 



170 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

be expected from the traffic alone, and that without a government sub- 
sidy of a considerable amount such lines of steamers, although they 
might be started, could not be permanently maintained." 

He then proceeds to show, up to 1851, the commercially non-success 
of transatlantic steamers that were not subsidized, and adds, — 

"Thus it appears, in fine, that after a lapse of nearly fourteen 
years, notwithstanding the great improvements in steam navigation, 
the project advanced at Bristol, and there pronounced by me to be com- 
mercially impracticable, signally failed.'^ ^ 

It is a pity that he could not have looked a little farther into the 
future and seen the commercial success of later steamships, consequent 
upon their increase of size and the economical improvements adopted, 
as also from the demand for the agricultural products of the United 
States furnishing return cargoes. 

1839. — Sir John Koss's Ideas about Steam War- Vessels. — 
Sir John Koss, royal navy, the distinguished Arctic voyager, in his 
"Treatise on Navigation by Steam," ^ says, "The ships and vessels 
proper in steam navigation will admit of a still greater variety than 
sailing-vessels ; and although none have as yet been constructed of a 
greater tonnage than one thousand tons, there is no good reason why 
they may not be twice as large, or of as much tonnage as the largest 
ship in the navy ; for although there may be a limit to the size of the 
boiler, shafts, and other parts of the machinery, there can be no objec- 
tion to two sets, if the ship is too large for one." He then proceeds to 
say, " There can be no doubt that in a future war a fleet of men-of-war, 
and indeed a small squadron, will scarcely be effective without a con- 
siderable, if not an equal number of steam-vessels to act under various 
circumstances ; and, among other things, their province will be to tow 
or increase the velocity of the ships in calms or light winds, and par- 
ticularly in action." Such vessels, he adds, should have the parts con- 
taining the machinery fortified against shot at distances where it would 
take effect upon her consort ; and he also proposes a class of steam gun- 
boats for coast defense, having their guns and paddles covered by a 
semicircular shield-deck of iron ; he gives sectional illustrations of this 
proposed defense. 

He says also in the same volume, " It is believed by those who 
have not devoted much time and attention to the subject of steam navi- 
gation that it cannot be extended to perform foy^eign voyages^ and it must 
be confessed that the experiments which have been made seem rather 
to confirm than to alter that opinion ; but it will be shown here that 
the trials which have hitherto been made have not been of such a 

1 Museum of Science and Arts, vol. x., 1856. 

2 Treatise on Navigation by Steam, etc., and an Essay towards a System of the 
Naval Tactics peculiar to Steam Navigation, as applicable both to Commerce and 
Maritime Warfare. By Sir John Eoss, 0. B. Second edition. 1 vol., quarto. Lon- 
don : John Weale, 1837. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 171 

nature as to justify a decided opinion." He also gives in the volume, 
illustrated by diagrams, a system of naval tactics, in which the steam- 
vessels are represented either as towing ships of the line on the off-side, 
or as whippers-in of a convoy in time of war. 

In 1837, Mr. Samuel Hall, of Basford, the inventor of the tubular 
condenser, patented a wheel having its floats placed obliquely, but so 
arranged that every three of them were set in an opposite direction ; 
and about the middle of 1838 a patent for another oblique paddle- 
wheel was taken out by Lieutenant W. S. Hall, of the Eighteenth 
Kegiment. These and other inventions for the improvement of the 
paddle-wheel preceded the invention of the Archimedean propeller, 
improperly called the Archimedean screw, being only a small segment 
of a screw, and resembling more a short fan than a screw. The system 
was taken from a kind of small windmills called " water-snakes" 
employed in low countries like Holland to draw water off the plains. 

1837. — THE GERM OF THE UNITED STATES STEAM NAVY. 

After the destruction of the steam-battery " Demologos," or " Ful- 
ton 1st," the sjeam galliot " Sea-Gull," a purchased vessel of one hun- 
dred tons, was employed in Porter's mosquito fleet for the suppression 
of piracy in the West Indies in 1822-25. She was employed as a 
receiving- vessel at Philadelphia for many years, and finally sold out of 
the service in 1840. But "Fulton 2d," launched in 1837, from the 
New York Navy- Yard, was the pioneer steam war- vessel of our pres- 
ent naval organization, and the second war-vessel built by the United 
States. 

She was designed and intended for a floating battery for the defense 
of New York harbor, as a substitute for the " Demologos." With 
machinery of great power, she attained for that time a high rate of 
speed, but was virtually inadequate for an ocean steamer, although she 
did make one trip to the West Indies and back. 

Her hull was built solid of the best live-oak. Strength rather 
than speed was consulted in its lines, her midship cross-sections being 
the same for one-third of her length, with a bluff bow, partially re- 
lieved by a hollow line and finer lines aft. Heavy bulwarks were 
built up from her decks for the protection of her crew and battery, 
beveled in all directions to glance off an enemy's shot. She had three 
masts and was rigged as a topsail schooner. Her principal dimensions 
were : Length between the perpendiculars, one hundred and eighty 
feet ; extreme beam on deck, thirty-four feet eight inches ; depth of 
hold, thirteen feet four inches ; estimated tonnage, nine hundred and 
seventy-three tons. At thirteen feet draught she displaced fourteen 
hundred and thirty-three tons of sea water. She had two horizontal 
condensing engines on the spar-deck, supported by wooden frames. 
The boilers were of copper, set in flues wagon-shaped and four in 



172 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

number, each with its separate smokestack. The paddle-wheels were 
twenty -two feet ten inches in diameter ; the buckets eleven feet six 
inches wide and three feet broad. Her armament consisted of eight 
long 42-pounders and one 24-pounder. Her total cost, hull and 
equipments, engines, wheels, and boilers, was two hundred and ninety- 
nine thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars. 

There are no logs extant of the performances of this vessel, but in 
a letter to Captain Matt. C. Perry, dated February 18, 1838, from 
Chas. H. Haswell, the chief engineer, the speed in smooth water in 
New York Bay is given at fifteen statute miles per hour with a boiler- 
pressure of thirty pounds per square inch, cutting off at three eighty 
the stroke with the old-fashioned canboid cut-off, the engines making 
twenty-six double strokes of piston per minute. The average draught 
of water was ten feet six inches. The coal-lockers contained coal for 
two days' consumption. 

" Fulton 2d'' remained for several years a useless hulk at the New 
York Navy- Yard, until 1853, when she was hauled upon ways, 
lengthened and repaired, and fitted with new machinery, and became 
known as " Fulton 3d." ^ 

The "Fulton 2d" lay at the New York Navy-Yard for many 
years a useless hulk, until 1852, when the old engine was condemned 
and she was fitted with new engines of different arrangement, two iron 
boilers being substituted for the copper. The new engine was a single, 
inclined, condensing one, with circular, double-drop return flue 
boilers. 

The hulk was hauled upon the ways and thoroughly repaired. 
The upper deck and heavy bulwarks removed and a complete change, 
made in her internal arrangements, but none in her lines. She was 
rigged as a two-masted fore-topsail schooner. Her armament consisted 
of one pivot 8-inch Paixhan gun forward, and four medium 32's in 
broadside. 

The hull of this '^Fulton 2d" was launched August 30, 1851, and 
on the 1st of January, 1852, a trial trip was made in the harbor of 
New York, embracing a run of seventy-one miles, under steam ; aver- 
age miles per hour 13.34 ; consumption of coal per hour, 2280 pounds ; 
average revolutions per minute, 21 ; horse-power developed, 899 ; 
draught, 10 feet. After cruising in New York harbor for the relief 
of distressed vessels, she sailed on the 25th of February to join the 
Home Squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. On the 31st of March she 
steamed from Havana to Pensacola, five hundred and fifty miles, on 
an air-line in fifty-five hours, said to be at that time the quickest trip 
ever made between those two ports. Going down the bay from Pensa- 

1 For full particulars of "Fulton 1st," 2d, and 3d, see the Naval and Mail 
Steamers of the United States, by Engineer-in-Chief Chas. B. Stuart, U.S.N. , 
1853. 



HISTOEY OF STEAlf NAVIGATION. 173 

cola to the navy-yard, she ran the six miles in twenty-two minutes, ac- 
curate time, a rate equivalent to 17.73 miles per hour.^ 

'^Fulton 3d'^ was in ordinary at the Pensacola Navy- Yard when 
it was taken possession of by the rebels in 1862, and was then de- 
stroyed. 

October 31, 1837. — The Secretary of the Navy authorized Captain 
M. C. Perry " to appoint two first-class and two second-class assistant 
engineers ; the appointments to be confirmed by the commandant of the 
station.^^ " The engineers must receive from you,^' he adds, " a letter 
of appointment revocable at any time by the commanding officer of 
the station, upon complaint of intemperance, incapacity, insubordina- 
tion, negligence, or other misconduct, preferred by the commander of 
the steamer, if proved to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of 
the station. The commander of the steamer, of course, to have the 
power of suspending them from duty if necessary. The engineers 
must be required to sign some proper instrument of writing which 
will legally make them liable to this law for the government of the 
navy, but to be exempt from corporal punishment, which instrument is 
to be transmitted to the Secretary of the Navy, with their letters ac- 
cepting their appointments." 

November 7, 1837. — The Secretary wrote Captain Perry that the 
" Fulton,'' as recommended by the Commissioners of the Navy and 
approved by the Navy Department, was allowed, — two first-class 
engineers, at eight hundred dollars per annum each ; two second-class 
engineers, at five hundred dollars per annum each ; four coal-heavers, 
at fifteen dollars per month ; and eight firemen, at twenty-five dollars 
to thirty dollars per month. 

Both the firemen and coal-heavers were to sign the ship's articles, 
and were to be removable ^^ at the pleasure of the commander of the 
vessel," as authorized for the reduction of petty officers and seamen. 
"If additional coal-heavers should be found necessary, some of the 
seamen or ordinary seamen of the vessel might be designated by the 
commander to perform that duty." He next wrote, — 

" Navy Department, November 21, 1837. 
'* Capt. M. C. Perry, Com'dg Str. ' Fulton,' New York : 

''Sir, — Your letter of the 16th instant, relative to the engineers of 
the ' Fulton' and their uniforms, has been received. 

'' The adoption of a uniform such as you may approve, if agreeable 
to those at ivhose expense it is to be provided, meets with the sanction of 
the Department, and it is also desirable, as mentioned in your letter, 
that none be appointed engineers but those of the very best standing. 
" I am, respectfully, &c., 

"M. Dickenson, 

^^ Secretary of the Navy.^^ 
1 Stuart's Naval and Mail Steamers of the United States. 



174 HI8T0RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

A letter dated December 19, 1837, authorized Captain Perry to 
employ, agreeably to his request, four additional firemen. 

December 21, 1837, the Secretary wrote him, "Your communica- 
tion of the 17th instant has been received, with its several inclosures, 
and the appointments of assistant engineers which you have made, as 
well as the measures you have taken in regard to the engagements, etc., 
of the engineers, firemen, and others, of the steamer ' Fulton,' are 
approved by the Department.'^ 

February 13, 1838, the Secretary wrote Captain Perry that he 
approved of his suggestion, and says, '^ I have directed Commodore 
Ridgely to place on board the ^ Fulton' five apprentices to the navy, 
w^ho are to be under the particular charge of the engineers (one to 
each) and exclusively attached to the engineers, and to be shipped and 
paid as other apprentices." 

February 21, 1839, the Secretary authorized the pay of the second 
assistant engineers on the " Fulton" to be increased from five hundred 
to six hundred dollars from the 1st of March. 

March 1, 1839, he authorized "the salary of such engineers as now 
receive eight hundred dollars to be increased to nine hundred." 

In this connection it is interesting to note the rapid rise in impor- 
tance of our steam navy in the past forty-one or forty-two years. Its 
personnel in 1882 consists of 

Ten chief engineers on the active list ranking relatively with cap- 
tains in the navy, one of whom, as chief engineer of the bureau of 
steam engineering, has the relative rank of commodore; 15 chief en- 
gineers with the relative rank of commander ; 45 chief engineers with 
the relative rank of lieutenant-commander; 81 passed assistant engineers 
with the relative rank of lieutenant ; 17 passed assistant engineers with 
the relative rank of master; 11 assistant engineers ranking as masters; 
51 assistant engineers with the relative rank of ensign ; 62 cadet en- 
gineers, graduates ; 74 cadet engineers at the Naval Academy, — viz., 25 
first-class ; 25 second-class ; 24 third-class. 

One chief engineer on the retired list, with the relative rank of 
captain ; 1 chief engineer with the relative rank of commander ; 6 chief 
engineers with the relative rank of lieutenant-commander; 18 passed 
assistant engineers with the relative rank of lieutenant ; 25 assistant 
engineers with the relative rank of master. 

While the rank of engineer officers has been increased the pay has 
similarly advanced. The engineer-in-chief now receives $5000 ; chief 
engineers, from $4000 to |2800, on duty ; passed assistant engineers, 
from $2200 to $2000, on duty ; assistant engineers, from $1900 to 
$1700, on duty; cadet engineers, from $1000 to $500, on duty; and 
their right to leave pay has been recognized. When retired they 
receive three-fourths of their highest pay on the active list. 






CHAPTEE lY.— 1838-1858. 

The Inauguration of Kegular Transatlantic Steam Navigation. — Arrival of the 
City of Kingston at New York from Cork, April 2, 1838. — Arrival of the 
Sirius from Cork and the Great Western from Bristol at New York, April 23, 
1838.— The President, 1839.— The British Queen, 1839.— Dimensions of the 
Earliest and Largest Transatlantic Steamships, 1840. — Miscellaneous Notes. — 
The Cj-clops, Steam Frigate, 1840.— The Nemesis, 1840.— The Screw Steamer 
Archimedes, 1840.— The Argyle, Chili, and Peru, 1839.— The Cunard Line 
Inaugurated, 1840.— The Bangor, 1842.— The French Steam Navy, 1840.— 
Screw Steamers in Great Britain, 1842. — Steam Navigation on the Indus, 
Established 1842. — The Driver, the First Steamship to Circumnavigate the 
Globe, 1842. — United States Steamship Princeton, the First Screw Steam 
War- Vessel, 1843. — H. M. Ship Battler, the Second Screw Steam War-Vessel, 
1843.— The Great Britain, 1843.— First English Steam Collier, 1844.— The 
Midias and Edith, the First Steam Screw Vessels to China, 1844-45. — The 
Witch, 1845. — American Mail Steamships to Havre and Bremen, 1845-50. — 
The Propeller Massachusetts, 1845. — Thames Steamboats, 1845. — The North 
Eiver Steamer Oregon, 1846. — The First French Atlantic Steamer, 1847. — 
First American Steamer to the Pacific, 1848. — The Gemini Iron Twin Steamer, 
1850. — Screw Steamship Himalaya, 1851. — The Francis Skiddy, 1852. — The 
Australian, 1852. — The Argo, the Second Steamship and First Screw to Cir- 
cumnavigate the Globe, 1854. — The Golden Age, 1854, — The Cunard Steamer 
Persia, 1855. — Steam Vessels of the Eoyal Navy, 1856. 

18S8. — Daniel Webster, in a lecture at Boston, said, in allusion to 
steam-power, ^' In comparison with the past, what centuries of im- 
provement has this single agent comprised in the short space of fifty 
years ! . . . What further improvements may still be made in the use 
of this astonishing power, it is impossible to know, and it were vain 
to conjecture. What we do know is, that it has most essentially 
altered the face of affairs, and that no visible limit yet appears beyond 
which its progress is seen to be impossible." When Webster spoke 
thus, the grand problem of ocean steam navigation had not been 
solved ; in fact, the possibility of a steamship crossing any ocean was 
generally denied both by practical and scientific men. 

At a meeting of the directors of the Great Western Eailway, Octo- 
ber, 1835, one of the party spoke of the enormous length, as it then 
appeared, of the proposed railway from London to Bristol. Mr. 
Brunei exclaimed, " Why not make it longer, and have a steamboat 
to go from Bristol to New York, and call it the Great Western?" 
The suggestion, treated at first as a joke, soon engaged the serious 
attention of three of the leading members of the board. A tour of the 
great ship-building ports of the kingdom was made in order to collect 
information. In the report of the result of the inquiry Mr. Brunei 

175 



176 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

inserted a paragraph which laid down the principles on which the suc- 
cess of oceanic steam navigation wholly depended. It was this, that 
the resistance to the passage of vessels through the water increases at a 
lower rate of progression than their tonnage. At equal speeds a vessel 
twice the size of another will encounter four times the resistance. But 
its capacity, or tonnage, will be eightfold that of the smaller vessel. 
By a well-proportioned increase of size, therefore, it is possible to employ 
far more powerful engines, to carry enough coal for the consumption 
of a long voyage, and at the same time to have ample accommodation 
for passengers and goods. So true is this, that it is now admitted that 
the economical limit to the size of vessels is imposed rather by the 
dimensions of ports and harbors than by the exigencies of the ship- 
wright. Speed, also, can be considerably increased by the employment 
of more powerful engines; the limit to ocean speed being imposed by 
another physical law, that the resistance increases as the cube of the 
velocity. 

The keel of the " Great Western" was laid, and assurance given 
that she would be followed by a splendid line of vessels, which would 
consign the packet-ships to the care of the historian as " things that 
were." 

The project was simultaneously started by two opposing interests, 
one advocating a line of steamers to ply betweed the west coast of Ire- 
land and Boston, touching at Halifax, the other a direct line between 
Bristol and New York. The former, the "British and American 
Steam Navigation Company," resolving not to be left astern by the 
company in Bristol, which was getting the " Great Western" ready for 
sea, chartered the " Sirius," a steamer which had been built to run be- 
tween London and Cork, to run against the " Great Western," and 
she made two voyages in their employ. 

16'.^^.— April 2, 1838, the British steamer " City of Kingston" ar- 
rived at New York from Cork, Ireland, being the second British 
steamship that crossed the Atlantic. Subsequently she went to the 
West Indies and returned to Norfolk and Baltimore. 

1838.— Tn^ " Sirius."— The " Sirius" arrived at New York on 
St. George's day, the 23d of April, also the anniversary of the birth 
and death of Shakespeare. The New York papers of that date say, 
" Myriads of per;5ons crowded the Battery to have a glimpse of the 
first steam-vess^ which had crossed the Atlantic from the British Isles 
and arrived safely in port." The " Sirius," of seven hundred tons' 
register and engines of three hundred and twenty horse-power, sailed 
from Cork at 10 A.M. Wednesday, April 4, 1838, and was followed 
by the " Great Western," which sailed from Bristol (the port which 
sent out the Cabots), April 8, both vessels arriving at New York 
April 23, 1838, the " Sirius" a few hours in advance of the "Great 
Western." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. Ill 

The " Sirius" was advertised to return May 1, and the Chevalier 
Wick off was one of seven passengers who met on the tug-boat which 
was to convey them on board. He says in his reminiscences, ^' We 
moved off amid the hurrahs of excited people who came on every kind 
of craft to wish us God speed." Among the passengers was James 
Gordon Bennett, the remarkable founder of the New York Herald. 
He says, ^' Perceiving a tall, slim man near me, I entered into conver- 
sation. His physiognomy was striking: lofty forehead, prominent 
nose, firm mouth, and the general expression, though somewhat stern, 
not forbidding. After chatting for some time I remarked, — 

" * I hear the famous Bennett is on board.' 

" ' Yes, I believe he is,' said the tall man, with a smile. 

" * Do you feel at all nervous about it V 

" ^ Not in the least,' was the reply. 

"^Well, for my part,' I continued,^! am not altogether comfort- 
able on the point.' 

" * Why ?' asked my companion. 

'^ * Because he is so given to saying sarcastic things of people.' 

" * That depends a good deal,' he answered, ' whether they are 
worth it.' 

" ^ Do you know him by sight?' I inquired, 

" ' Very well.' 

" ^ Then do point him out if you see him on deck.' 

" ' He is standing before you. My name is Bennett.' 

" ' What !' I exclaimed, on recovering my breath ; ^ are you the 
man so fiercely assailed, and wliose humorous sallies I have read with 
such delight these six months past?' 

" ^ EcGC homo P he retorted. 

" All went merrily the first week. Then stormy weather set in, 
and our little steamer was put to a tougher test than I had expected. 
She was dreadfully knocked about, but was stanch and steadfast in 
the worst gales. 

'^ When only a couple of days from the English coast, the coal was 
nearly exhausted, and they economized by going at half-speed, but 
towards the last we were forced to burn up whatever could be spared. 
On entering the English Channel the vessel became enveloped in a 
dense fog. Suddenly the mist cleared off and it was found we were 
heading on to one of the Sicily Islands, and in half an hour would 
have been a wreck. On the seventeenth day we put into Falmouth 
for coal and provisions, and thence started for London." 

The " Sirius" ran afterwards on the line of steam-packets between 
Dublin and Cork, and ran on the rocks of Bally Cotton Bay January 
16, 1847, and was wrecked, when twenty lives were lost. 

The '^ Great Western" made her return trip to Bristol in less than 
twelve days. Steam traveling across the Atlantic was thus inaugurated. 

13 



178 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The following account of these pioneer steamships, and of their 
first voyage across the Atlantic, is from the New York Express of 
April 24, 1838.1 

^ The New York Courier and Enquirer ^ of April 23, 1838, has this notice of the 
arrival of the "Sirius:" 

"ARRIVAL OF A STEAMER FROM EUROPE. 

" Seven days later from London. Six days later from Liverpool. 

" Last night our news , schooner ' Eclipse' boarded the steamer ' Sirius,' Lieu- 
tenant Kichard Koberts, K. N., commander, from Cork, whence she sailed on the 
4th inst. She has performed the voyage without accident, save a slight one which 
befell her on coming in the Hook, where she grounded. Since her departure she 
has used only fresh water in her boilers, having on board Mr. Hall's condensing 
apparatus." 

Under the head of marine news is reported : " Steam-packet * Sirius,' Eoberts, 
from Cork, sailed April 4, with forty-six passengers, etc., to "Wadsworth & Smith. 
The ' S'irius' went ashore on the point of the Hook last evening about ten o'clock, 
She did not sustain any damage, and will be got off on the rising tide." 



The same paper contains the following advertisement : 



"BRITISH STEAM-PACKET SHIP FOE LONDON, TO SAIL FROM 
NEW YORK, MAY 1, 1838. 

" The new and powerful Steamship 

"'SIRIUS,' 

" 700 tons burthen and 320 Horse-power, 

" Lieutenant R. Roberts, Commander ^ 

is intended to sail from London, March 28th, touching at Cork, and thence, on the 
2d of April, for this port, returning from New York to London on the 1st of May. 

" This vessel has superior accommodation, and is fitted with separate cabins, 
for the accommodation of families, to whom every possible attention will be given. 

" Cabin, $140, including provisions, wines, etc. 

"Second cabin, $80, including provisions. 

"This superior steamship has been chartered by the directors of the British 
and American Steam Navigation Company of London, to meet the pressing de- 
mands of the public, in anticipation of the steamship ' British Queen,' now build- 
ing ; is a new vessel, about six months old, and has proved herself superior to any 
steam-vessel in British waters in speed and seaworthy qualities. 

"Further information afforded on application; and for freight and passage 

apply to 

" Wadsworth & Smith, 

" 4 Jones Lane (rear 103 Front Street), 

" Agent of the American and British Steam Navigation Company.''^ 

The following is the first advertisement of the " Great Western" in the New 
York Courier and Enquirer, April 24, 1838 : 

"BRITISH STEAM-PACKET SHIP 

" ' GREAT WESTERN,' 

"James Hoskins, R. N., Commander, 

" Having arrived yesterday from Bristol, which place she left on the 8th inst., 

at noon, will sail from New York for Bristol on Monday, 7th May, at 2 o'clock p.m. 

" She takes no steerage passengers. Rates in the Cabin, including Wines and 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 179 

" STEAMSHIPS ' SIEIUS' AND \^ GREAT WESTERN.' — SPLENDID SIGHT 
FROM THE BATTERY. 

" Yesterday was a day of unusual excitement in this city, it being 
universally considered the beginning of a new era in the history of 
Atlantic navigation. The steamship ' Sirius' having arrived Sunday 
night, thousands assembled to see her, as the news spread about the 
city. She anchored a short distance from the castle, and crowds upon 
the Battery had a view of her from that promenade. The sun shone 
clear, and the weather was as fine as could be wished. 

^' The ^ Sirius' sailed from Cork on the evening of the 4th instant, 
and made the Highlands of New York at six o'clock p.m. on the 22d, 
making the passage in eighteen days, and having on board forty-seven 
passengers. During the day she was thronged by small boats filled 
with passengers to view her. About one o'clock it was announced by 
telegraph that the steamer ' Great Western' was off the Hook, when 
thousands poured down Broadway ; and the Battery at two p.m. presented 
a brilliant appearance. The crowd reminded one of the landing of the 
* Nation's guest,' Lafayette. The smoke of the ^ Great Western' was 
seen in the horizon ascending in black volumes long before her hull 
was visible. The ship, as she came in sight and passed Bedloe's 
Island, received a salute from the fort of twenty-six guns. She ap- 
proached the Battery through a fleet of row-boats and small craft, 
cheered by every one. She soon ranged alongside the Castle, sailed 
around the ' Sirius,' which saluted her, and the crowd from the 
wharves. Castle, boats, etc., gave three hearty cheers, returned by 
those on board. She then went up the East River, and anchored near 
Pike Street. This successful experiment of steam-packets between 
New York and England gave life and joy to all. 

" The ^ Great Western' left Kingroad, Bristol, at two o'clock, April 
7th, and she was, at two o'clock, April 23d, only sixteen days, in New 
York, thus bringing England nearer to us than many parts of our 
own country. This has been done in a season of the year, not of 
summer sunshine, but of gales, storms, sleet, and hail, — and steam 

Provisions of every kind, 30 guineas; a whole state-room for one person, 50 
guineas. Stewart's fee for each passenger, £1.103. sterling. Children under 13 
years of age half price. No charge for letters or papers. The captain and owners 
will not be liable for any package unless a bill of lading has been given for it. 
One to two hundred tons can be taken at the lowest current rates. 

" Passage or freight may be engaged, a plan of the cabin may be seen, and 
further particulars learned, by applying to 

"Richard Irving, 98 Front Street," 

The " Great Western" continued to sail from the Severn, and subsequently 
from the Mersey, and made seventy-four transatlantic passages before passing into 
the hands of the West India Company. On her second trip from New, York she 
reached Bristol in twelve and a half days. 



180 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATIOK 

navigation across the Atlantic is no longer an experiment^ but a plain 
matter of fact. The thing has been done triumphantly. 

" The * Great Western' was built at Bristol, by the Great Western 
Steamship Company, and intended to commence a regular line between 
Bristol and New York. She was launched on the 19th of July, 1837. 
Her length between the perpendiculars, from the forepart of the stem 
to the afterpart of the stern at the keel, 212 feet ; length of keel on the 
blocks, 205 feet ; length of cabin-deck (saloon), 75 feet ; length over 
all (from figure-head to taffrail), 235 feet; breadth between paddle- 
wheels, 34 feet 4 inches ; depth under deck to top of floors, 23 feet 3 
inches; scantling floors on the side of keel, 15 inches, sided; ditto, 16 
inches, moulded ; length of floors, 24 feet ; thickness of bends, 7 inches ; 
bottom plank, 5 inches ; top sides, 4 inches ; sheer streaks, 5 inches ; 
upper-deck clamps, 8 inches ; diagonal riders, 5 inches, 3 feet apart ; 
iron diagonals, 4 inches by f ; bilge planks, 6 inches ; keelson, 20 by 
21 inches. 

^^ Tonnage, 1320 tons ; best berths, 150 ; berths for crew, 26 ; berths 
for engineers, firemen, and officers, 40 ; two engines, by Maudsley & 
Field, 400 horse-power, 200 each ; diameter of cylinder, 73 J inches ; 
length of stroke, 7 feet ; coal stowage, 600 tons, or enough for thirty 
tons per diem for twenty days. 

"Her whole cost amounted to about £50,000, £21,373 15s. lOd. 
of which has been expended for ship-building, £13,500 for the en- 
gines, about £1000 for the fitting up, furniture, and painting of the 
grand saloon, and the remainder for rigging, equipment, stores, and 
coals. 

" The ' Sirius' is a beautiful model, seven hundred tons, three 
hundred and twenty horse-power, schooner-rigged. Notwithstanding 
rough weather, she came over with perfect safety. Passengers were 
delighted with her performance. Her boilers were supplied with fresh 
water by a distilling apparatus which converted the salt into fresh 
water. The distilling worms (small copper tubes) measured, as re- 
ported, near four miles ! 

" The following is the journal of her voyage : 

" 4th April. — Started ; light breezes from N.E. Draft of water, 
15 feet 2 inches. 

" 5th. — Heavy at N.E. to N.N.E., windy ; fresh gale, much head- 
sea, slight rain. Exchanged numbers with the bark ^ Dale,^ of Liver- 
pool. Weighted one ton of coal, which lasted 1 h. 30 m. ; pressure on 
the boilers, 53.4 pounds. 

" 6th. — Stormy, W.N.W. breezes, with squalls and heavy head- 
sea. Passed two brigs, one standing east and the other north. 

" 7th. — Same, strong gales and squally,^ with rain, — vessel labor- 
ing heavy. Passed two large ships standing to the eastward, under 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 181 

double-reefed topsails. Yeiy squally. Passed a barque. Heavy sea, 
with long swell ; took in water on deck. 

" 8th. — Same, with hazy weather. Stopped engine, owing to one of 
the braces working loose — started the engine in an hour after — heavy 
rains. 

" 9th. — Wind still W.N.W., and a heavy head-sea — clear. Passed 
a brig standing east. Set a single-reefed foresail and double-reefed 
mainsail. 

" 10th.— Spoke ship ^Star/ of New York, longitude 24 W.— fresh 
gales and squally — shipped a great deal of water. 

'^llth. — Winds E.N.E. — passed a ship standing to the south — 
light breezes. 

"12th. — Light winds, easterly — stopped engine to pack the stuff- 
ing-boxes — light winds and fair. 

" 13th.— S.E., light breezes. Spoke the ' Roger Sherman,' of Bath, 
36 days from New Orleans, bound to Havre — hoisted colors to a Fal- 
mouth packet — three sails in sight — reduced the weight to 33.4 lbs. on 
boilers. 

" 14th. — S.W. light breezes — passed a ship standing to the west- 
ward — observed a change in the color of the water. 

"15th. — Heavy W.N.W. gale; dark and foggy. 

"16th — N.W. to W. gales; heavy head-sea and snow — vessel 
laboring — stopped engine three-quarters of an hour to fasten screws. 

"17th. — N.W. by W. winds; squally, with hail and snow. 

"18th.— S.W. winds and squalls. 

"19th.— Same. 

" 20th. — W. by N., heavy sea and hard rain — stopped engine, and 
was boarded by Her Majesty^s ship " Coromandel,'' from Bermuda, 
bound to Halifax, with Eleventh Regiment. 

" 21st. — Ditto — exchanged signals with an Austrian brig. 
- " 22d.— Made light for the pilot off the Highlands. Not getting 
a pilot, the ^ Sirius' ran in, and then touched off the Hook — receiving, 
however, no damage.'' 

Her Majesty's consul historically records the event of her arrival 
in the following letter addressed to the commander of the " Sirius :" 



" Her Majesty's Consulate, - 
" New York, April 23, 1838. 

"Sir, — I have tlie honor and happiness to congratulate you on the arrival of 
your steamship across the Atlantic, at a season when strong gales so generally pre- 
vail, thereby having proved that British skill has accomplished a most important 
enterprise, which will produce a revolution in commercial and social intercourse, 
of which we are incapable of forming any just conceptions. Permit me, sir, to add 
that I have, in common with my fellow-subjects of Her Majesty in this city, a 
further cause of rejoicing, that the honor of accomplishing the enterprise has been 



182 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



achieved by a son of the British navy, and that it was completed on St. George's 
day. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, 

" Your humble servant, 

"James Buchanan. 
"KiCHARD Egberts, Esq.,E. N., 

" Commander of the Steamship ' Sirius.' " 

" Log of the ' Geeat Western.' — We published yesterday an 
abstract from the log-book of the * Sirius/ showing her daily progress, 
and the sort of weather she had to encounter, and we now give an ex- 
tract from the log-book of the * Great Western' : 









Latitude. 


Longitude. 








i 


1 








WlKD. 


Remarks 
ON Weather. 










fl 




;-! 


5 


+i 






o 








J3 


o 




o 


S 








O 


.22 


o 


.o 


o 


^ 






^ 


O 


fl 


< 


O 


< 


o 






April 8... 


10 P.M. 




Sandy I. 








N.W. N.N.W 


Strong gale. 


" 9... 


West. 


240 




50.27 




07.32 


N.N.W. and S.W. 


Moderate. 


" 10... 


78-30 W. 


213 


49.55 


00.00 


12.50 


12.16.45 


W. by N. and S. W. 


Moderate. 


" 11... 


W. by S. 


206 


49.04 


43.11 


17.25 


17.10 


S.W. and E. by S. 


Moderate and 
hazy, rough at 
night. 


" 12... 


W. 1-2 S. 


231 


47.47 


47.17 


22.48 


22.05.10 


E. by S.E. to S.E. 


Moderate and 
cloudy. 


'• 13... 


W. 1-4 S, 


218 


46.56 


46.56 


23.09 


28.27 


E.S.E. 


Light winds. 


." 14... 


W. 3-4 S. 


218 


46.26 


46.23 


33.40 


34.09 


S.W. and S.S.W. 


At 10 P.M. squally, 
with small rain. 


" 15... 


W. by S. 


241 


45.24 


45.19 


39.43 


39.38.30 


S.E. to S.W. by S. 


Strong and squal- 
ly, vessel lurch- 
ed deeply but 


" 16... 


W. 3-4 S. 


243 


44.46 


44.34 


45.19 


45.31 


Variable. 


easy. 
Squally. 


" 17... 


W. 3-4 S. 


185 


44.07 


44.10 


49.46 


49.21 


S.W. to W.N.W. 


Strong gales and 
heavy sea. 


" 18... 


W.S.W. 


169 


42.02 


42.58 


52.55 


52.30 


W.N.W. to W. by N. 


Moderate. 


" 19... 


W. 1-4 S. 


206 


42.02 


42.02 


56.50 


56.49.45 


S.W. 


Strong winds and 
heavy sea. 


'« 20... 


W. 3-4 S. 


183 


41.36 


No Ob 


60.54 


No Ob 


S.W. W.N.W. 


Strong winds and 

heavy sea, ship 

very easy. 
Light winds and 

cloudy. 
Strong winds and 

frosty. 
Fine weather; at 


" 21... 


W. 3-4 S. 


192 


41.05 


40.30 


65.05 


64.24.13 


N.N.W. 


" 22... 


S. 83 W. 


198 


39.48 


39.41 


68.38 


69.03,30 


N.N.W. to W.N.W. 


" 23... 


S. 79 W. 


230 










N.N.W. and N. 


















10 received a 


















pilot. 



To harbor, 50 ; 3223 miles steaming. 

A passenger on the " Great Western/' on this her first transatlantic 
voyage, in a communication to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, says, — 

" A number of daring passengers — for daring they were thought 
in that day — took berths for the voyage in the ^ Great Western ;' and 
on 8th April, 1838, at noon, the gallant ship steamed away from her 
anchorage at the mouth of the river Avon, and majestically descended 
the Severn, bound for New York. One of her passengers says, when 
they were fairly under way, ^ Whatever misgivings might previously 
have assailed us in the contemplation of our voyage, I believe that at 
this moment there was not a faltering heart among us. Such stability, 
such power, such provision against every probable or barely possible 
contingency, and such order presented itself everywhere on board, as 
was sufficient to allay all fear.' 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 183 

" SuflSce it that the ^ Great Western' entered the harbor of !N'ew 
York at full speed on the afternoon of 23d April, having performed 
the passage in the then unprecedentedly short period of fifteen days, in 
which only four hundred and fifty-two tons of the six hundred tons of 
coal on board had been consumed. The fort on Bedloe's Island saluted 
the steamer with twenty-six guns, answering to the number of States 
of the Union at that time. 

" ^ It had been agreed among us,' says one passenger, ^ some days 
previously, that before we left the ship one of the tables should be 
christened Victoria, the other the President, \yine and fruit had been 
set upon them for this purpose : we were standing round the former 
of them ; the health of Britain's Queen had been proposed ; the toast 
was drunk ; and amidst the cheers that followed, the arm was just 
raised to consummate the naming, when the fort opened its fire. The 
fire was electric. Our colors were lowered in acknowledgment of the 
compliment, and the burst which accompanied it from our decks — 
drinking the President and the country, and breaking' wine again — 
was more loud and joyous than if at that moment we had unitedly 
overcome a common enemy. Proceeding still, the city became more 
distinct, — trees, streets, the people, — the announcement of the arrival 
of the ship by telegraph had brought thousands to every point of 
view upon the water-side ; boats, too, in shoals, were out to welcome 
her, and every object seemed a superadded impulse to our feelings. 
The first to which our attention was now given was the " Sirius," lying 
at anchor in the E'orth Eiver, gay with flowing streamers, and literally 
crammed with spectators, — her decks, her paddle-boxes, her rigging, 
mast-head high ! We passed round her, receiving and giving three 
hearty cheers, then turned towards the Battery. Here myriads seemed 
collected, — boats had gathered around us in countless confusion, flags 
flying, guns were firing, and cheering again, — the shore, the boats, on 
all hands around, loudly and gloriously, seemed as though they would 
never have done. It was an exciting moment, — a moment which, in 
the tame events of life, finds few parallels : it seemed the out-pouring 
congratulations of a whole people, when swelling hearts were open to 
receive and to return them. It was a moment of achievement ! We 
had been sharers in the chances of a noble effort, and each one of us 
felt the pride of participation in the success of it, and this was the 
crowning instant. Experiment then ceased; certainty was attained; 
our voyage was accomplished.' In explanation of the allusion in the 
above to the ' Sirius' we may here state that this steamship, which had 
sailed from Cork before the ^ Great Western' left Bristol, had arrived 
a day or two before the latter vessel ; but the ^ Sirius' only partially 
used her engines, not having stowage for sufficient fuel to keep them 
constantly plying." 

1839.— ThQ Charleston (S. C.) llermry says, August, 1839, " Major 



184 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

John Lind, of Charleston, S. C, an officer of the United States Engi- 
neers, is justly entitled to the credit of the application of the screw in 
the place of the paddle-wheel to the steamboats. More than five years 
since ^ he explained the principle, and experimented successfully with 
a small model boat on the canal near Washington City." 

1839. — The New Jersey Journal, August, 1839, says, " Mr. Samuel 
Dow, of Elizabethtown, upward of twenty years since, made two small 
boats from twenty to twenty -five inches in length, one with a screw, 
and the other with paddle-wheels, in order to test the superiority of 
the screw. Each had a mast and cord, the standing part of the latter 
fast to and wound around the shaft or axle, and over a sheave in the 
mast-head, with equal weight attached. At the going off the wheel 
would go ahead ; but before the race the screw would over-haul and 
shoot ahead. 

" Mr. Dow built a boat twenty-five feet in length, with a screw on 
each side, to ship and unship as might be advantageous. It was 
worked by four men with a crank and cog-wheels." 

1839. — Sail Vessels to be Propelled by Steam. — The 
Norfolk Herald, October 7, 1839, says Mr. Benjamin Harris, of that 
borough, had conceived a plan by which sail-vessels of every descrip- 
tion might be propelled with the aid of steam, by paddles operating 
vertically in the bottom of the vessel above the keel, connected with 
the machinery above by a perpendicular shaft working in a metal cyl- 
inder, constructed to exclude the water. In the larger class of ships, 
the boilers, engines, and all the machinery could be stowed away 
helow the water-line. 

Mr. Harris tested his idea on a skiff fourteen feet long and three 
wide, which, propelled by the hand, by a crank turning a paddle-wheel 
two and a half feet in diameter, made the rate of five miles an hour. 

Many ingenious plans were proposed up to 1839, when the utility 
of the screw-propeller was fully demonstrated, and a number of screw 
boats were placed on the lines of inland navigation connecting Lake 
Ontario with the St. Lawrence. 

The ^^ Londonderry" or " Great Northern" Screws, 1842. 
— There is a good representation of the " Great Northern," which was 
launched the latter part of 1842, with sections of the stern showing 
the screw, in the London Illustrated News, for January 24, 1843. The 
vessel is represented as ship-rigged, with the smokestack aloft the main- 
mast and having a line of painted ports along her side. The paper 
states, " Her great length, breadth, and depth exceeds, we believe, the 
dimensions of any steam vessel ever in existence. She was built at 
Londonderry by Captain Wm. Coppin^ (an experienced ship-builder 

1 The screw as a method of propulsion was devised nearly half a century earlier. 

2 Captain Coppin has obtained in England and in this country (March 28, 1882) 
a patent for a compound ship constructed of three hulls of narrow beam, the two 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 185 

and inventor), and is a remarkable monument of marine architecture. 
She is propelled by the Archimedean screw, which works on each side 
of the rudder : the engine is of three hundred and sixty horse-power. 
No paddles are required, and but for the funnel which is seen amid- 
ships, she might pass for a square-rigged ship of the larger class. She 
has three masts with lower and upper yards, and is rigged in every 
respect like a frigate or sloop-of-war. We were favored by one of her 
officers with the following dimensions : Length from tafPrail to stern, 
two hundred and seventy-four feet; beam, thirty-seven feet; depth, 
fifty feet. On her passage from Londonderry she ran upon an average 
thirteen and a half knots without her engine, which can be spared or 
used as circumstances may require. When it was necessary to put on 
the engine she ran nine knots head to wind. The space for storage is 
most capacious. Standing aft and looking forward on the orlop deck 
the distance seems immense, exceeding indeed the largest first-rate in 
the navy. With all this room there is at present a want of arrange- 
ment for cabins, but we understand she will be fitted up in the best 
style. With respect to her external appearance the vessel seems a huge 
monster steamer, but pleasing in her mould and trim. (This the cut 
shows.) A beautiful female figure is placed over the cut-water and her 
stern is richly decorated with carving, gold and color. In consequence 
of the heavy mast, yards, and rigging, she will require an immense 
quantity of ballast. At present it is not decided whether she is to run 
to and from Ireland or be employed in other service. During her stay 
many persons entered the dockyard to gaze upon this truly wonderful 
object." 

Extracts from her log from Cowes to London, beginning Decem- 
ber 25, 1843, and ending December 29, when she steamed into the 
East India po^t docks, which are given, show that her sailing qualities 
were not impeded by the screw propeller. 

1842,— In March, 1842, Lieutenant W. W. Hunter, United States 
navy, took out a patent for a submerged horizontal wheel, for the pro- 
pelling of steamers. The first essay was made in the canal at Wash- 
ington, D. C, on a small boat called the " Germ." The result obtained 
was represented as so favorable it was determined by the United States 
government to build a wooden vessel of 1000 tons to test this method 
of propulsion. This vessel, named " The Union," was built at the 
Norfolk (Virginia) Navy- Yard, and was of the following dimensions : 
Length on deck, 184 feet 6 inches ; beam on deck, 33 f^^i 6 inches; 
beam at wheels, 26 ; depth of hold, 16 j feet; deep drop, 13 feet; dis- 
placement at 11 feet draft, 900 tons. Engines, — Two iron condensing 

outer hulls being longer than the central hull, and the whole decked over and com- 
bined as one vessel. The centre vessel Is entirely devoted to machinery and has a 
screw at both ends. The design bears promise of great speed and carrying capacity 
and great stability, but has not yet been put to a practical trial. 

14 



186 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

horizontal disconnected engines, built at the Washington Navy- Yard. 
Diameter of cylinders, 24 feet ; strokes of piston, 4 feet. 

The Hunter wheel consisted of a plain drum revolving in a hori- 
zontal plane beneath the water upon the sides or periphery of this 
drum ; the paddles placed vertically and radically from the centre. In 
the Hunter wheel ihQ paddles acted in the same manner as the Orsman 
paddle-wheel, excepting that they revolved horizontally instead of 
vertically. 

'^ The Union" was rigged as a three-masted schooner, was never off 
the United States coast, and did but very little steering, and never after 
several alterations attained a speed of over six knots. Her total cost 
with alterations was §172,475. Her armament was four 65-pounders 
mounted in the centre of the vessel on swivels. After various trials 
she was put in orders and sent to the Philadelphia Navy- Yard, where 
her machinery and boilers were taken out and sold, and the hull turned 
into a receiving ship, and finally sold and broken up. 

Two other vessels were built for the United States Navy with Hun- 
ter's submerged horizontal wheels, — viz., the " Hunter," a small vessel, 
lost at Sacrificio on her first voyage, in 1841, and the "Allegheny," an 
iron vessel of large tonnage, but which was only partially a success. 

i6*^.— -The " Great Britain."— The keel of the " Great Britain," 
built at Bristol from designs and on calculations made by Mr. Brunei, 
was laid down in July, 1839, and launched on the 19th of July, 1843, 
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, honoring the 
event with his presence. The " Great Britain" was originally intended 
for a paddle-steamer, but the company having been unable to induce 
any forge-master to undertake the forgings required for the paddle- 
shafts, necessity compelled the adoption of the screw-propeller. After 
her launch she was imprisoned several months in Cumberland dock, 
Bristol, owing to the locks being narrower than the ship, which necessi- 
tated their being widened. She was released from her long and ludi- 
crous durance December 12, 1844, and early in 1845 steamed round to 
London. Her propeller was fifteen and a half feet in diameter. She 
was of large dimensions for the time, having an extreme total length 
of 322 feet, 51 feet width of beam, 32 feet 6 inches depth of hold, and 
3448 tons burden by the old measurement. The " Great Britain" was 
among the first ocean-going steamships built of iron, and also among 
the first of that now numerous class navigated by a screw propeller. 
Originally she had six masts, which were afterwards reduced to three. 
The screw was worked by engines of 1000 horse-power, but were 
changed to engines of 500 horse-power nominal. She was intended to 
be employed between Bristol and New York as the companion ship of 
the '^ Great Western." Besides being very strongly framed, she was 
divided into six water-tight compartments, which proved their utility 
when on her voyage from Liverpool to New York, with one hundred 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 187 

and eighty-five passengers on board, she was stranded on the 22d of 
September, 1846, in Dandrum Bay, on the Irish coast, where she lay 
till the 25th of August, 1847, exposed to all the storms which swept 
that rugged and tempestuous coast. When floated ofiP she was found 
to have sustained little or no damage. During the Crimean war she 
was employed by the British government as a transport, and afterwards 
run to Australia as a passenger-ship, with machinery and equipments 
modified to suit the service. She was still on that route in 1876.^ 

The " Great Western'' ran regularly between Bristol and JS'ew York 
till the end of 1846. In 1847 she was sold to the West India Royal 
Mail Steam Packet Company, and was considered one of their best 
vessels. She was broken up in 1857, at Vauxhall, being unable longer 
to compete profitably with the new class of streamers. 

1838,— Thb '' Liverpool."— The " Liverpool" was built in the 
city for which she was named, and was dispatched to New York, Octo- 
ber 20, 1838, by Sir John Tobin, a well-known merchant, and put 
bacK: to Cork, October 26. She again proceeded on her voyage on the 
6th of November, and made the passage in sixteen and a half days, 
arriving at New York November 23. She was at first of 1150 tons, 
but her tonnage was subsequently increased to 1543, and she obtained 
the name of the " Great Liverpool." She made in all six voyages to 
and from New York, when she was transferred to the Peninsula and 
Oriental Company, and in 1846 was totally wrecked off Cape Finis- 
terre. 

1839.— Tub "President."— The "President" was launched De- 
cember 7, 1839, with great iciat, and sailed on her first trip to New 
York August 1, 1840; but her career was very brief, and may be 
summed up in a few words. When due from New York in April, 

^ This vessel, whi-ch has a history of more than ordinary interest, was yesterday 
offered for sale by Mr. C. W. Kellock (Messrs. Kellock & Co.) at their salesroom, 
"Walmer Buildings, Water Street, and the event attracted a very large attendance of 
gentlemen who are closely identified with the shipping interests of the port. The 
" Great Britain," lying in the West Float, Birkenhead, was described in the " bill 
of particulars" as of 3270 gross tonnage, and 1795 tons net register. It is further 
stated that "she was for many years in the Australian trade, and well-known by 
her rapid passages as a most successful ship. Her construction is of great strength, 
and the iron used was Low Moor of the finest quality. For the cattle trade across 
the Atlantic she is admirably adapted, her high 'tween decks and side ports afford- 
ing grand ventilation ; she can carry live stock on three decks. For a sailing ship 
her beautiful lines peculiarly adapt her, and with the machinery taken out she is 
calculated to carry 4000 tons dead weight. Her engines are by J. Penn & Sons, of 
Greenwich, and are in good condition; her boilers by Fawcett, Preston & Co., of 
Liverpool ; and though this steamer has been built many years, her iron was so 
good, and strength of construction so great, with a certain outlay she could be made 
a most desirable merchant ship. Dimensions, — Length over all 325 feet, breadth 
50-6 feet, depth 31-5 feet." The bidding began at £2,000, then went to £5,000, and 
before long £6,500 was offered. There being no advance on this price, Mr. Kellock 
announced that the vessel was withdrawn. — Liverpool Mercury^ July 29, 1881. 



188 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

1841, she failed to make her appearance : tremendous weather having 
been experienced in the Atlantic, with unusual quantities of ice in very 
low latitudes, and the greatest anxiety was felt for her safety. She was 
never again heard of, nor was any trace of her wreck ever discovered. 
Her figure-head was a bust of Washington after Canova.^ 

1839.— Th.^ ^'British Queen.''— The "British Queen" sailed 
from Portsmouth, England, on her first trip, July 13, 1839, with a 
full complement of passengers, a crew of one hundred men, eight hun- 
dred tons of goods, and six hundred tons of coal. She cost three hun- 
dred thousand dollars, and when leaving the harbor was said to have 
afloat in her property to the value of seven and a half millions of 
dollars. She was sold to the Belgian government in 1841. 

The " Columbia,'' of the Cunard Line from Liverpool to New 
York, was wrecked on the rocks off Seal Island July 2, 1843. No 
lives lost. 

In 1840 Lieutenant Wall, royal navy, communicated interesting 
papers to the United Service Journal " On the Construction, Prdpor- 
tions, and Power best adapted to Sea-going Steam Vessels," in which 
he presented arguments in favor of building and supplying large 
steamers with three instead of two engines, and set forth the advan- 
tages which would counterbalance the increased expense, weight, and 
friction of a third cylinder. 

The same year M. Scott Russell arrived at this " very remarkable 
result :" " That in a voyage by a steam- vessel in the open sea, exposed 
of course to adverse winds, there is a certain high velocity and high 
portion of power which may be accomplished with less expenditure of 
fuel and of room than at a lower speed with less power." 

The Secretary of the United States navy, in 1840, in his official 
report, stated that England, in 1836, had six hundred steamers at home 
and abroad, and in 1840 the number of steamers in the United States 
was eight hundred, of which six hundred belonged to the Western 
waters, where in 1834 there were about two hundred and fifty-four. 
About one hundred and forty belonged to the State of New York. In 
tonnage, in 1840, the United States had one hundred and fifty-five 
thousand tons of steam-shipping, and Great Britain sixty-eight thou- 
sand. 

The Society of Arts awarded Mr. Jennings a silver medal in 1840, 
for his invention of night signals for steamers. A small iron steamer 

1 On the 23d of April, 1841, in lat. 41, long. 70, a Portuguese brig saw a large 
steamship under sail going about four miles an hour. No smoke issued from the 
funnels (the " President" had two), and the paddle-wheels were not in motion. 
The captain of the brig saw the steamer on the following day, and even approached 
within three or four miles of her while pursuing his homeward route. She did not 
hail the brig, nor did she appear to be at all in a disabled state. A British man-of- 
war and two Portuguese vessels were sent to cruise in search of the "President," 
but without success. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 189 

was built in England, appropriately named " The Anthracite," espe- 
cially adapted to burning that kind of coal.^ 

July 10, 1840, the "Cyclops'^ steam frigate, " the largest and most 
powerful steam man-of-war in the world," was launched at the Pem- 
broke Dock-Yard. Her dimensions were : length, 225 feet ; beam be- 
tween paddles, 38 feet; depth of hold, 38 feet; tonnage, 1300. She 
was two hundred tons larger than the ^' Gorgon," launched from the 
same slip two years before. She had a complete gun-deck, as well as 
an upper or quarter-deck, and on her main deck mounted eighteen long 
36-pounders, on the upper deck four 48-pounders and two 96-pound- 
ers, " tremendous guns on swivel carriages, carrying a ball ten inches 
in diameter, and sweeping around the horizon two hundred and forty 
degrees." 

She was commanded by a post-captain, the '^ Gorgon" being the 
only steamer in the royal navy at that date taking post rank. Her 
crew consisted of two hundred and ten men, twenty engineers and 
stokers, and a lieutenant's party of marines, who had charge of the guns. 
All the guns were mounted upon sliding fixed pivot carriages. She 
was schooner-rigged, and with six months' stores and twenty days' fuel, 
drew only fifteen feet of water. Her orlop-deck could store eight, hun- 
dred troops and their officers with comfort. She was built in six 
months, on plans of Sir William Symonds, and had engines of three 
hundred and twenty horse-power. 

The steamer " Nicholai," of eight hundred tons, was built at Dept- 
ford in 1839, to run between Lubeck and St. Petersburg, and the 
Messrs. Laid & Woodside, of Liverpool, shipped in sections the hulls 
of three iron steamboats to be set up in Montevideo. 

1838.— T^Y. " Columbus."— The "Columbus," of Liverpool, 
built in 1838 for transatlantic voyages, was fitted with Howard's 
vapor engine, and hence obtained the name of the " quicksilver^^ steamer. 
She was brig-rigged, had two very low funnels, and burned anthracite 
coal, so that " no smoke was emitted." She was a vessel of 330 tons, 
builder's measurement, had 21 J feet beam, was 145 feet long on her 
keel, and her depth of hold was 13 J feet; horse-power, 110. She had 
two 55 feet engines (her cylinder being 40J inches in diameter), her 
piston had 3 J feet stroke, and her paddle-wheels were 17 J feet in diam- 
eter. Her speed was ten and a half statute miles per hour. Her fur- 
nace was not applied immediately to the water, but to a pan of quick- 
silver, which it was proposed to maintain at its boiling-point, but very 
much above the boiling-point of water. On this surface of hot quick- 
silver water was injected, which instantly converted into steam contain- 
ing more heat than was sufficient to maintain it in vaporing form. 
This superheated steam worked the piston, and being subsequently con- 
densed by a jet of fresh water, the mixture of warm water produced 

^ Mechanics'' Magazine. 



190 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

by the steam and the water injected was conducted through the cooling 
pipes, and subsequently used to supply the water evaporation, thus not 
only dispensing with the boiler, but also with sea water, the same dis- 
tilled water constantly circulating through the cylinder and condenser. 
The experimental results were satisfactory, and a small boat fitted with 
Howard's engine was plying between London and Richmond during 
the summer of 1838. The result of the trial of the ^^ Columbus" I 
have not ascertained, but it was probably unsuccessful, as this is the 
only notice of " Howard's quicksilver engine" I have been able to find. 

1838, — The " Rainbow," built by John Laird, of Liverpool, for 
the General Steam Navigation Company in 1838, was an iron steamer 
of 580 tons, 190 feet between perpendiculars, 25 feet beam between the 
paddle-boxes, and 12f feet depth of hold. Her engines were of 180 
horse-power. On one occasion she made the trip between London and 
Antwerp, a distance of one hundred and ninety nautical miles, in four- 
teen hours, — the quickest that had been made. On this vessel Pro- 
fessor Airy experimented on the effect of iron on the compass.^ 

1839. — The "North America," the first vessel with which it 
was attempted to open a steam communication between Halifax and 
Boston, performed the voyage in the autumn of 1839 from one place 
to the other in thirty-six hours, and on a second trip in twenty-nine 
hours, with very heavy weather. 

1839. — Steamers to India. — The " Queen of the East," an iron 
steamship, the first of a line of steamers to ply between England and 
Calcutta, launched in 1839, was an iron ship of 2618 tons and 600 
horse-power. Her extreme length was 312 feet, and between the per- 
pendiculars 270 feet ; beam, 45 feet ; depth of hold, 30 feet ; cylinder, 
84 inches diameter; 9 feet stroke. 

The " India," the first vessel of the India Steam Navigation Com- 
pany via the Cape of Good Hope, was one thousand two hundred tons, 
and had accommodation for eighty passengers. Her extreme length 
was two hundred feet; beam forty; depth forty. Her cargo capacity 
was four hundred tons. She had two plate iron bulkheads across the 
engine to confine accidental fire and prevent a leak spreading from one 
division to another. Three additional steamers were on the stocks for 
this company, and others to be immediately commenced. 

184-0. — The "Proserpine" war-steamer of four hundred and 
seventy tons, built in England, 1840, had four sliding keels, nine 
water-tight bulkheads, two of which were longitudinal, running the 
entire length of the engine-room, and was armed with four long guns 
on non-recoil carriages. Her draught was four feet; her two engines 
were of forty-five horse-power each, and her paddle-wheels could be 
disconnected. 

184,0. — The " Propeller," a small steamer with engine of 

1 Nautical Magazine^ 1829. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 191 

twenty-four horse-power, built in England in 1840, had propellers of 
single blades of iron on each side, broad and large, which dipped into 
the water perpendicularly. The appearance of the propellers was like 
that of the legs of grasshoppers, and when in motion their action re- 
sembled the legs of that insect in its work/ 

18Jf.l. — The '^ Cairo,'' built for the navigation of the Nile in 
1841, was flat-bottomed to adapt her for the shallow waters of the 
Nile, having a draught of only two feet. She had two oscillating 
engines of sixteen horse-power each. She was an iron vessel and 
divided by water-tight bulkheads, with five compartments, and could 
accommodate one hundred persons in her cabins. Her average speed 
was guaranteed by her builders to be fifteen miles an hour. 

184^1. — The " Fire-Fly," of about two horse-power, fitted with 
a locomotive boiler, vibrating engines, and Ericsson screw propeller, 
attained a speed of nine miles an hour on the Thames at Oxford. 

i6'5'P.— Screw Steamer " R. F. Stockton."— January 29, 1839, 
the "E.. F. Stockton" (screw) towed the American packet-ship 
^' Toronto," six hundred and fifty tons, and drawing sixteen and three- 
quarters iQQt of water, from Blackwall to the lower points of Wool- 
wich, three and a quarter miles, in forty minutes, against a flood-tide 
running two to two and a half miles an hour. 

^^ The fact of this ship having been moved at the rate of upward 
of six miles an hour, by a propeller measuring only six feet four inches 
in diameter, and occupying less than three feet in length, is one which, 
scientifically considered, as well as in a practical and commercial point 
of view, is of immense importance." ^ 

^54(9.— The " Nemesis."— Captain W. H. Hall sailed from 
Portsmouth in the " Nemesis," March 28, 1840. She was the first 
iron steamer that ever rounded the Cape of Good Hope. She arrived 
at Table Bay July 1, left on the 11th, but meeting with severe gales, put 
into English River, Delagoa Bay, to refit, which occupied three weeks, 
when she resumed her voyage up the Mozambique Channel to India 
and China, where she performed gallant service. She was one hundred 
and sixty-eight feet long, twenty-nine feet beam, and six hundred and 
fifty tons burthen. She was fitted with five water-tight compartments. 

The "Archimedes," an iron screw steamer, in 1840 made an ex- 
perimental trip around the island of Great Britain, or seventeen 
hundred and twenty-two miles in two hundred and ten hours, being 
on an average about eight and a half miles an hour. 

The '^ Archimedes" was built by F. P., Smith's Archimedean Screw 
Propeller Company. After the experimental trials were over the en- 
gines were taken out and she was sold for a sailing-vessel. ^ 

1 London Times, Oct. 10, 1840. 

2 Timbs, in the Year-Book of Eacts for 1840. 

3 See ante, Chapter III. 



192 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The first application of HalFs reefing paddle-wheels was to the 
iron steamer ^' Lee/' in ] 840. 

Compound Engines, 1829-1839. — A comparatively little known 
work, by C. A. Tremtsuk, published at Bordeaux in 1842, contains 
some interesting particulars of the steamers plying at that time on the 
Gironde and the Garonne. One of these vessels, the ^^ Union,'' 
launched in June, 1829, had a compound-engine constructed by Plal- 
lette, of Arras. This engine had two inclined cylinders, the connect- 
ing-rods taking hold of the same crank-pin. The cylinders had 
diameters of 15 and 15.8 inches respectively, and the stroke in each 
instance was 26 inches. The engine was run at thirty revolutions a 
minute under a pressure of sixty-six pounds of steam. Another ex- 
ample of an early compound engine was in use in 1842 on board the 
steamer " Le Corsaire Noir." It was built in 1837 by Fol, Sr., of 
Bordeaux, and had three oscillating cylinders, two of them being each 
10.78 inches in diameter, with 39.4 inches stroke, and the third having 
a diameter of 21.27 inches, with a stroke of 32 inches. The three 
cylinders acted on three different cranks. The two smaller cylinders 
received the steam from the boiler at a pressure of seventy-fi^ur pounds, 
and discharged it into an intermediate receiver, from which it passed 
to the large cylinder and then to the condenser.^ 

1839, — The steamer "Argyle" sailed from Liverpool April 6, 
1839, fi)r New Orleans via Cadiz and Madeira; and the "Chili" sailed 
from Falmouth, and the "Peru" from London, July 2, 1839, for 
Valparaiso and Callao via Rio Janeiro. 

1839. — The Fiest Trial of Steamers in Battle. — The at- 
tack upon St. Jean d'Acre, November 3, 1839, by the allied squadrons 
of England, Austria, and Turkey, under the command of Commodore 
Sir Charles Napier, was the first occasion on which the advantages of 
steam was tried in battle. Four English paddle-wheel steamers — viz., 
the " Phoenix," " Gorgon," " Stromboli," and " Vesuvius" — were en- 
gaged in the action, and the shells thrown from them did prodigious 
execution ; they were enabled with rapidity to take up the most advan- 
tageous positions and rendered great assistance during the bombard- 
ment. 

184-0. — A Vessel Propelled by Pressure-Pumps. — The Edin- 
burgh Observer of 1840 says, "An ingenious mechanic residing at 
Grahamstown has been for a long period engaged in constructing a 
small vessel to be propelled by pressure-pumps. The boat was launched 
into the Forth and Clyde Canal at Bainsford Bridge, and proceeded 
along the reach at a rate of not less than fifteen miles per hour, con- 

^ Benjamin, in his paper on " Ocean Steamships," in the Century^ September, 
1882, says, "The compound engine was invented by Hornblower in 1781." • Also 
" that Allaire made such an engine for Eckford in 1825." 

Hornblower's engine is not mentioned in the Abridgment of ^^atents for Marine 
Propulsion, published by the British Patent Office. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 193 

ducted by the inventor alone, who worked the pumps. He had no 
doubt that his invention would entirely supersede the use of paddle- 
wheels/' 

The London Morning Chronicle for 1840 says, "Experiments 
were tried with a model of an entirely new form of steam-vessel, and 
with every prospect of a successful result. In this remarkable inven- 
tion there are no paddle-wheels nor external work of any kind. The 
whole machinery is in the hold of the vessel, where a horizontal wheel 
is moved by the power of steam, and, acting upon a current of water 
admitted by the bows and thrown off at the stern, propels the vessel at 
a rapid rate. By a very simple contrivance of stop-cocks, etc., on the 
apparatus, the steamer can be turned, retarded, stopped, or have her 
motion reversed. '^ 

An oflScer of the United States navy obtained a patent in 1840 for 
a similar improvement; his model was examined by scientific gentle- 
men in Washington, who highly approved of it. The whole machinery 
was situated below the water-line, out of reach of shot. 

1840. — The Cunaed Line Established. — Samuel Cunard, of 
Halifax, in 1840, started the line of ocean steamers known by his 
name. It was the first permanently successful line of transatlantic 
steamers. The " Britannia," the first regular steamer of the line, left 
Liverpool, July 4, 1840, and arrived at Boston, July 18, 1840, four- 
teen days and eight hours from Liverpool. 

Cunard had for years conducted a line of packet-brigs between 
Halifax and England, — tub-like vessels widely known as coffins, sev- 
eral having foundered under the wintry waves of the Atlantic. Mr. 
Cunard accepted a subsidy and laid the keels of four steamers of eight 
hundred tons to run from Halifax to Boston. On his return by the 
'' Great Western'^ he was encountered at Bristol by news from America. 
Resolutions favoring the enterprise had been presented at a large meet- 
ing in Boston and adopted by acclamation. With these in hand, 
Cunard waited on the Admiralty. " See,'' he says, " my predictions 
are verified. I told you the boats were too small ; the Bostonians say 
they must come through to Boston, and that they will settle the ques- 
tion of the Northeast boundary. Give me ten thousand pounds more 
and I will enlarge the steamers and extend my rpute to Boston." 
They gave him the additional sum; he went back to Glasgow, broke 
up the keels already laid, and built the " Britannia," '^ Acadia," " Cale- 
donia," and " Columbia," the pioneers of his line to America. The 
"Unicorn," a chartered vessel, was the first vessel of the Cunard line 
to cross the Atlantic, but the " Britannia" was the first regular vessel 
to arrive at Boston. 

lS4^.^The paddle-wheel steamer " Bangor," from Boston, via 
Halifax and Pict^ou, arrived at Fayal on the 19th September, 1842, 
in ten days from the latter port, and left on the 21st for Constantino- 



194 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

pie, touching at Gibraltar and Malta. She was at one time the steam- 
yacht of the Sultan, and later employed in conveying Mohammedan 
pilgrims towards Mecca. She was a side-wheel steamer, built in New 
York to ply between Boston, Portland, and Bangor, Maine, and was 
some time on that route. On her voyage to Gibraltar her lower 
cabins were converted into coal-bunkers and her upper cabins re- 
moved. 

18^0. — The French Steam Navy. — The French steam navy in 
1840 consisted of the following paddle-wheel steamers, — viz., the 
^^ Lavoisier,'' 220 horse-power; "Y^loce," 220; "Cam^l^on," 220 
"Gassendi," 220; "Majeur," 160; '^ Sphinx," 160 ; "Ardent," 160 
"Crocodile," 160; " Fulton," 160 ; " Chimere," 160 ; "Styx," 160 
"M^t^ore," 160; "Vulture," 100; " Phare," 160; "Acheron," 160 
"Papin," 160; "Cerberus," 160; " Tartar," 160 ; "Etna," 160 
"Brandon," 160; " Cocytes," 160; "Phaeton," 160; " Tonnerre,' 
160; "Euphrates," 160; "Gr^geois," 160; " Grondeur," 160; " Ra- 
mier," 150 ; " Castor," 150 ; " Brasier," 100 ; " Coureur," 80 ; " Flam- 
beau," 80; "Corsair," 60; "Erebus," 60; "African," 40; and seven 
other boats on the stocks, — viz., the "Asmodeus," "Pluto," "Infer- 
nal," "Gomore," " Tonare," " Cuvier," and " Chaptal," which gave 
France an effective force of forty-one steamboats, whilst the English 
had nearly twice as many. The " Gomore," of four hundred and fifty 
horse-power, was to carry thirty-four guns under a covered battery, and 
the " Infernal" was of three hundred and twenty horse-power. 

On the other hand, the English had the " Cyclops," which could 
mount sixteen long thirty-twos, four pieces of forty-eight on its quar- 
ter-deck, and two of ninety-six, — twenty-two guns in all. She could 
carry coal for twenty-five days' steaming, and take one thousand soldiers 
on her deck, four hundred troops across the Atlantic, or three hundred 
to India. Her usual rate of sailing was eleven knots an hour. She 
beat in sailing, and without using the engine, the " Pantaloon," the 
fastest sailing brig in the royal navy, in a passage of three hundred 
miles. Her crew comprised two hundred and twenty seamen in time 
of war, and one hundred and seventy-three during peace. Independent 
of her war steamboats. Great Britain had immense resources in her 
commercial steam navy, which consisted of eight hundred and ninety- 
nine steamboats, aggregating a force of sixty-eight thousand one hun- 
dred and forty-five horse-power. Among these were thirty-three 
steamboats, of from four hundred and fifty to seven hundred horse- 
power, which traded to the United States, South America, and 
India. 

18^2. — Early Screw Steamers in Great Britain. — The 
London Nautical Magazine for 1842 notes the following vessels with 
screw propellers as having been built or then being built in Great 
Britain, — viz. : 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 195 

ALREADY BUILT. 

" Archimedes," 237 tons, 70 horse-power, belonging to London. 
"Princess Eoyal," 101 " 45 " " Brighton. 

"Bee," 30 " 10 " " Portsmouth. 

"Beddington," 270 " 60 " " South Shields. 

"Novelty," 300 " 25 " " London. 

BUILDING. 

"Great Britain," 3600 tons, 1000 horse-power, belonging to Bristol. 
"Rattler," 800 " 200 

Two for the French government of 230 horse-power. 

One " " " " 350 " 

Propellers had been fitted to other vessels with various success. 
The old river steamer "Swiftsure" was fitted with one, and an in- 
creased speed attained by it. The " Great Britain^' is described as the 
*^ largest vessel in the world ;" but the most notable feature about her 
is her newly-improved screw-propeller, patented by Mr. Smith, of 
London, and applied by him with complete success to the " Archi- 
medes." 

Henry Winhault, who launched the " Novelty'' on the Thames, in 
1843, claims she was the first screw propeller ever used to carry 
freight. 

The " Napoleon," of one hundred and thirty horse-power, built in 
Havre in 1842, was the first French steamer propelled by the screw. 

In 1842 steam navigation was established on the Indus. The iron 
steamers " Planet" and " Satellite," originally intended for the Rhine, 
were purchased by the East India Company, sent out in sections, and 
put together in the dock-yards in Bombay. In 1844-45 the ^' Na- 
pier," "Conqueror," and "Menace" were added to the line; all these 
had engines of sixty horse-power. 

In 1842 her Britannic Majesty's steamship "Driver" circumnavi- 
gated the globe, the first steamship to perform this feat. 

18J^1. — The First Steam Launch. — The "Jane," a steamer 
twenty-six feet long, with five feet beam, and of less than three tons 
tonnage and one horse-power, attained in smooth water a speed of 
seven miles an hour. She was built by Mr. Blaxand, of Greenwich, 
and her propelling power was two screw paddles at the stern. The 
machinery was worked by straps and friction-pulleys, so arranged as 
to avoid the wear and tear of gears. 

18Jf,2, — Captain Carpenter, of her Majesty's steamship " Geyser," 
in 1842 had her pinnace fitted with his patent propeller and a small 
engine of five to six horse-power. The pinnace was thirty feet in 
length, nine feet wide, and capable of carrying three tons. Her " disk" 
engine weighed six hundredweight, and measured three feet by one 
and a half. The engine and boiler were so fitted to the pinnace that 
they could be taken out or replaced in five minutes. 



196 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION, 

18^1. — An Ice-Cutting Steamboat was invented by M. C. 
Hiorth,a Dane, in 1841, which could cut its way through the thickest 
ice with a speed nearly equal to that of an unimpeded navigation. 

ISIfS. — The " Princeton.'^ — Screw propulsion was introduced into 
the United States navy, and, it may be said, into the United States, in 
1843 by the construction of the "Princeton," a steamship classed as a 
second-rate sloop-of-war. 

This vessel was designed by and constructed under the superin- 
tendence of Captain John Ericsson, a Swede by birth, but a resident 
of New York. She was the first screw steam war-vessel ever built} 

Her dimensions were : 

Length on deck 164 feet. 

Length between perpendiculars 156 " 

Extreme beam on deck 30 " 6 inches. 

Depth of hold to berth-deck 14 " 

Depth from berth to spar-deck 7 " " 

Total depth of vessel 21 " " 

Measurement burden 673 tons. 

Launching weight of hull 418 " 

Displacement at 16^- feet draught 954 " 

'' " 18 " " 1046 " " 

Immersed midship section at 16J feet draught . 346 square feet. 

" " " " 18 " " 390 " " 

Draught of water at deepest load, with 200 tons of coal on board 19 feet 4 inches. 
Draught of water, with 100 tons of coal in, after bunkers and \ forward 14| feet. 

provisions and water for the crew half out . / aft 18^ " 

Mean draught of water with half coal out and all other weights 

full 17 feet. 

The peculiarity of her model consisted in a very flat floor amid- 
ships, with great sharpness forward and excessive leanness aft, the run 
being remarkably fine, with a great extent of dead-wood terminating 
in a stern-post of the unusual thickness of twenty-six inches at the 
centre of the propeller-shaft, but tapering above and below. This dead- 
wood and stern-post was pierced by a hole thirteen inches in diameter. 

Other of her peculiarities were that for the f.rst time in a vessel of 
war all of her machinery was placed entirely below the water-line, out of 
7'each of shot. She was also the first war-steamer to burn anthracite 
coal, thus avoiding the dense volumes of black smoke which revealed 
all foreign war-steamers. She was also the first steamer provided with 
telescopic funnels, to be lowered out of the way of the sails, and the 
first to use blowers. She was provided with direct-acting engines. 
Ericsson, who devised her, was the first also to couple the screw directly 
to the engine. 

An eye-witness has described a remarkable race between the 
" Princeton'' and the " Great Western,'' the fastest ocean paddle-wheel 
steamer of the day. The " Great Western" was aware that the new 

1 Her Majesty's ship "Rattler," the second screw war-vessel, was launched 
after the " Princeton." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 197 

United States war-vessel propelled by an unseen instrument intended 
to run with her a sufficient distance for a fair trial of the relative speed 
of the two vessels, and was therefore fully prepared. 

On the day in question, shortly after the ^' Great Western'^ had 
passed the Battery in the New York harbor, with volumes of dense 
smoke pouring from her pipe, her paddle-wheels leaving a snow-white 
wake behind them, the '^ Princeton" came down the Hudson at great 
speed. She looked like a fine model of a sailing-ship, with yards 
squared and not a stitch of canvas spread ; no smoke-pipe visible, it 
being lowered level with the rail ; no smoke to be seen, anthracite 
being the fuel supplied, but propelled by a noiseless and unseen agency. 
She soon reached and passed the '^ Great Western'' and steamed around 
her, and passed her a second time before the two reached their points 
of final separation. 

Captain Stockton, who may be said to have been her originator, 
superintended her construction and was her first captain. In a letter 
to the Secretary of the Navy, he thus describes the '^ Princeton.'' 

United States Ship "Peinceton," 

Philadelphia, February 5, 1844. 

SiK, — The United States ship " Princeton" having received her armament on 
board, and, being nearly ready for sea, I have the honor to transmit to you the 
following account of her equipment, etc. : 

The " Princeton" is a full-rigged ship of great speed and power, able to per- 
form any service that can be expected from a ship of war. Constructed upon the 
most approved principles of naval architecture, she is believed to be at least equal 
to any ship of her class with her sail, and she has an auxiliary power of steam, and 
can make greater speed than any sea-going steamer or other vessel heretofore built. 
Her engines lie snug in the bottom of the vessel, out of reach of an enemy's shot, 
and do not at all interfere with the use of the sails, but can at any time be made 
auxiliary thereto. She shows no chimney and makes no smoke, and there is 
nothing in her external appearance to indicate that she is propelled by steam. 

The advantages of the " Princeton" over both sailing-ships and steamers pro- 
pelled in the usual way are great and obvious. She can go in and out of port at 
pleasure, without regard to the force or direction of the wind or tide or the thick- 
ness of the ice. She can ride safely with her anchors in the most open roadstead, 
and may lie to in the severest gale of wind with safety. She cannot only save 
herself, but will be able to tow a squadron from the dangers of a lee shore. Using 
ordinarily the power of the wind and reserving her fuel for emergencies, she can 
remain at sea the same length of time as other sailing-ships. Making no noise, 
smoke, or agitation of the water (and, if she chooses, showing no sail) she can sur- 
prise an enemy. She can take her own position and her own distance from an 
enemy. Her engines and water-wheel being below the surface of the water, safe 
from an enemy's shot, she is in no danger of being disabled, even if her masts 
should be destroyed. She will not be at daily expense for fuel as other steam- 
ships are. The engines, being seldom used, will probably outlast two such ships. 
These advantages make the "Princeton," in my opinion, the cheapest, fastest, 
and most certain ship-of-war in the world. 

The equipments of this ship are of the plainest and most substantial kind, the 
furniture of the cabins being made of white pine boards, painted white, with ma- 



198 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

hogany chairs, table, and side-board, and an American manufactured oil-cloth on 
the floor. 

To economize room, and that the ship may be better ventilated, curtains of 
American manufactured linen are substituted for the usual and more customary 
and expensive wooden bulkheads, by which arrangement the apartments of the 
men and oflScers may in an instant be thrown into one, and a degree of spaciousness 
and comfort is attained unusual in a vessel of her class. 

The " Princeton" is armed with two long 225-pounder wrought-iron guns and 
twelve 42-pounder carronades, all of which may be used at once on either side of 
thia ship. She can consequently throw a greater weight of metal at one broadside 
than most frigates. The big guns of the "Princeton" can be fired with an effect 
terrific and almost incredible, and with a certainty heretofore unknown. The ex- 
traordinary effects of the shot were proved by firing at a target, which was made 
to represent a section of the two sides and deck of a 74-gun ship, and timbered, 
kneed, planked, and bolted in the same manner. This target was five hundred and 
sixty yards from the gun. With the smaller charges of powder the shot passed 
through these immense masses of timber (being fifty-seven inches thick), tearing it 
away and splintering it for several feet on each side and covering the whole surface 
of the ground for a hundred yards square with fragments of wood and iron. The 
accuracy with which these guns throw their immense shot (which are three feet in 
circumference) may be judged by this : the six shots fired in succession at the same 
elevation struck the same horizontal plank more than half a mile distant. By the 
application of the various arts to the purposes of war on board the ** Princeton," it 
is believed that the art of gunnery for sea service has for the first time been re- 
duced to something like mathematical certainty. The distances to which these 
guns can throw their shot at every necessary angle of elevation has been ascer- 
tained by a series of careful experiments. The distance from the ship to any object 
is readily ascertained with an instrument on board, contrived for that purpose by 
an observation which it requires but an instant to make, and by inspection without 
calculation. By self-acting looks the guns can be fired accurately at the necessary 
elevation, no matter what the motion of the ship may be. It is confidently be- 
lieved that this small ship will be able to battle with any vessel, however large, if 
she is not invincible against any foe. The improvements in the art of war adopted 
on board the " Princeton" may be productive of more important results than any- 
thing that has occurred since the invention of gunpowder. The numerical force of 
other navies, so long boasted, may be set at naught. The ocean may again become 
neutral ground, and the rights of the smallest as well as the greatest nations may 
once more be respected. All of which, for the honor and defense of every inch of 
our territory, is most respectfully submitted to the honorable Secretary of the 
Kavy, for the information of the President and Congress of the United States. 
By your obedient and faithful servant, 

E. P. Stockton, 

Captain U. S. Navy. 
To Hon. David Henshaw, 
Secretary of the Nnvy. 

The " Arrogant," the first war-propeller vessel planned as such by 
the English/ four or five years after the date of the United States 
steamer ^' Princeton," had cylinders of nearly the same capacity as her 
American prototype, yet her engines occupied two thousand eight hun- 
dred and twelve cubic feet, while those of the " Princeton" occupied 
but seventeen hundred and thirty-eight feet. The " Princeton's" en- 

^ The " Battler" was originally laid down for a paddle-wheel steamer, and her 
plans changed on the stocks to a screw. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 199 

gines weighed eighty-five tons ; the " Arrogant's/' built by the eminent 
engineer, Penn, were much heavier. 

The hull of the " Princeton/' having been built of white oak, was 
found to be too rotten for repair in 1849 and was broken up. Her 
performance was not excelled by any screw steamer of her time, rela- 
tively with the fuel she consumed. At sea she worked and steered 
admirably, either under sail alone or with sail and steam. She was a 
^ very dry vessel, but, owing to the sharpness of her hull fore and aft 
the midship section, she pitched in a rough sea with great violence. 
With a fair amount of canvas and a moderate wind she would careen 
to an extent unusual in a vessel of her class, but, though she thus 
easily went down to her bearings, it took additionally a very large 
quantity of canvas and a strong wind to depress her sensibly further. 
In a heavy gale clawing off a lee shore she carried sail to a greater ex- 
tent than was considered prudent by other sailing sloops of war in her 
company ; all of them, and some frigates, she beat out to windward, 
dragging her propeller. 

After the hull was broken up the machinery of the vessel remained 
in store at the Boston Navy- Yard until the summer of 1851, when the 
department ordered a new clipper hull to be built at that yard, of in- 
creased dimensions, to receive the Ericsson semicylinder engines, to 
have new boilers, and a propeller of suitable proportions for this en- 
larged '^ Princeton." The new vessel, built of live oak and copper 
fastened, was beautiful to look at, but her performance did not equal 
expectation. It was a case of putting old wine into new bottles. She 
performed very little service at sea, was used as a receiving vessel 
at Philadelphia, and was sold in that city in 1867. Her armament 
was four 8-inch guns of 58 hundredweight and six 30-pounder guns 
of 32 hundredweight. Her dimensions were : Mean length at load- 
line, 177.5 feet; extreme beam, 32.66 feet; depth, 25.75 feet; displace- 
ment at mean load-line, 1370 gross tons. She was ship-rigged. 

18 40. — The Royal Steam Navy in 1840 consisted of between thirty- 
eight and fifty paddle-wheel steam-vessels of all classes. During the 
next three years — 1842-44 — eight screw vessels were ordered to be 
built, but the " Rattler" was the first that was launched. This num- 
ber was augmented by twenty-six in 1845. In 1848 there were forty- 
five screw steamers in the Royal Navy. 

In 1845 the Queen reviewed the channel fleet, the steam branch 
being on that occasion represented by one solitary ship, the " Rattler ^^ 
the first screw steamship added to the Royal Navy. In 1853, when 
the Queen again reviewed the fleet at Spithead, the steam branch had 
increased in the intervening eight years to twenty-seven paddle-wheels 
and thirteen screws, while there were only three sailing-ships present. 

An official report of the result of various trials of the performance 
of screw steamers, dated May, 1850, states it *'as highly probable that 



200 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

fine sailing-vessels, fitted with auxiliary screw-power, would be able, if 
not to rival, at least to approach full-powered and expansively-acting 
steamships in respect of their capability of making a long voyage with 
certainty and in a reasonably short time." "Another application of 
the screw, although inferior in general importance to its application as 
a propeller to ordinary ships,'' says the same report, ^^ is as a manoeuvrer 
to those large ships in which engines of considerable power cannot be 
placed, or in which it is considered unadvisable to place them. No 
doubt can be entertained of the efficiency of such an instrument worked 
by an engine of even fifty horse-power. The full extent of its utility, 
however, cannot perhaps be thoroughly appreciated until it shall have 
been extensively used in Her Majesty's navy." 

184B.—T]\Q H. M. S. " Rattler," the first screw vessel of war of 
the Royal Navy, was ordered to be altered when on the stocks to test 
the method of screw propulsion. She seems to have been built to see 
if a propeller would really propel a vessel. Her engines were a set 
of ordinary paddle-wheel engines attached to the screw by means of 
gearing, and of course projecting above the water-line. That the experi- 
ment might be conclusive, so far as a trial could be made between two 
vessels, she was constructed on the same lines as the *^ Alecto" (her after- 
part being lengthened for the insertion of the screw), and she was fitted 
with engines of the same power, and on a plan which had previously 
been tried with paddle-wheel vessels. So doubtful were the Lords of 
the Admiralty of her success that the space on her broadside where pad- 
dle-wheels were usually inserted was kept clear of gun-ports that wheel- 
houses might be appended in case of the non-success of her screw ; and 
this was the state of her broadside when she was in China, in 1853-54.^ 

The " Rattler" was launched from Sheerness Dock- Yard in April, 
1843. She was considered a remarkably fine model, and of very un- 
usual length in proportion to her beam, her dimensions being one hun- 
dred and ninety-five feet extreme length, thirty-three feet extreme 
breadth, and eighteen and one-half feet mean depth of hold. Her 
burden was eight hundred and eighty-eight tons. The river trials of 
the "Rattler" lasted from October, 1843, to the beginning of 1845, 
and showed that the screw-shaft might be advantageously reduced in 
diameter, and the blades reduced by one-third of their length ; an alter- 
ation which greatly reduced the weight of the screw, and facilitated 
the shipping and unshipping of it, and also rendered unnecessary the 
wounding or weakening to so great an extent the after part of the ves- 
sel. The result of the experiments with the " Rattler" was that the 
aperture in future vessels might be of very moderate dimensions with- 
out lessening the propelling power of the screw, and that in smooth 
water the screw was not inferior to the paddle-wheel. Early in 1845 

1 My informant of this fact was Captain Abel Fellowes, E. N., who com- 
manded her at that time. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 201 

the " Rattler" proceeded, in company with the " Victoria and Albert" 
and the " Black Eagle/' from Portsmouth to Pembroke. When round- 
ing Land's End, both these vessels steaming against a strong head- 
wind, their paddles being constructed on the feathering principle, 
proved superior to the " Rattler," which left an unfavorable impression 
as to the efficiency of the screw against wind and sea in heavy weather, 
and this impression continued for several years, although when next 
tried, in a run from the Thames to Leith, in speed she was decidedly 
superior to paddle-wheel steamers of greater tonnage. Before joining 
the squadron of Rear- Admiral Hyde Parker, in July, 1845, the "Rat- 
tler" was employed to tow the " Erebus" and " Terror" to the Orkney 
Islands on their fatal expeditions to the North Pole. 

In 1843 Count Adolph E. de Rosen, the agent of Ericsson, received 
an order from the French government to fit a forty-four gun frigate, 
the '^ Pomone," with an Ericsson propeller with engines of two hun- 
dred and twenty horse-power, which were to be located beneath the 
water-line, as in the case of the " Princeton." The next year the Eng- 
lish government gave Count Rosen instructions to fit the frigate " Am- 
phion" with a propeller and with engines of three hundred horse-power, 
which were to be fixed below the water-line like those of the French 
"Pomone." The engines of these vessels were the first engines in 
Europe which were kept below the water-line. They were also the 
first direct acting horizontal engines employed to give motion to the 
screw. Both vessels were completely successful.^ ^ 

When the screw propeller was first tried in the British navy it was 
not supposed by anybody that the small section at present used would 
be enough ; it might for anything that was then decided be a screw of 
one complete turn upon its axis. Upon that supposition the " Rattler" 
was lengthened by the stern sufficiently for a long aperture ; in conse- 
quence the run at the fore part of the aperture was constructed of such a 
degree of fineness as to be most favorable to the efficacy of the screw. 
The correctness of form in this case was purely accidental. 

184-4^. — The Fiest Steam Whistle on the Missouri. — The 
use of the steam-whistle on the Missouri River dates back to 1844. 
At that time the settlers on the Missouri River were in the habit of 
making yearly visits to St. Louis to do their trading for themselves 
and friends. They were not provided with daily intercourse with the 
outside world, and many who lived back from the river seldom if ever 
saw a steamboat more than once a year. During the fall of the year 
1844 the new steamboat "Lexington" started up the Missouri River 
loaded down to the guards with freight. Among the passengers were 
Judge Joseph C. Ransom, Theodore Warner, of Lexington, and Ben 
Holliday, afterwards the famous overland stage proprietor; Colonel 

1 Bourne on the screw propeller. ^ g^^ Y>^gQ 157. 

15 



202 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Pomeroy, of Lexington, and a planter of PJatte County, named George 
Yocum. 

The steamer " Lexington'^ was provided with a steam-whistle, — the 
first used on the Missouri, — and no one knew about it except Warner, 
who was a wag and a lover of a joke. The night after leaving St. 
Louis the passengers were collected together playing cards in the cabin, 
when the talk turned upon steamboat explosions, then very common. 
" I feel perfectly safe on this boat,'' said Warner, as he dealt the cards. 

"Why?" inquired Yocum, the planter. 

" Why ?" echoed the rest of the company. 

"I will tell you why," said the wag, carefully studying his cards; 
" this boat is provided with a new patent safety-valve, which notifies 
the passengers on board when it is about to blow up. It is a concern 
which makes a most unearthly noise, and when you hear it, it is time 
to get back aft or jump overboard." 

Notwithstanding that Warner told his story with the most solemn 
and earnest countenance, some were skeptical. Not so, however, the 
planter. Next morning, when the " Lexington" was steaming up the 
straight stretch of river below Washington, Missouri, the passengers 
were at breakfast, and busily engaged in doing justice to the meal. 
Suddenly the whistle commenced to blow for the first time on the trip. 
The passengers looked at each other a moment, and horror and dismay 
spread itself over their faces. The first man to realize the situation 
•was Yocum, the planter, who, with hair erect and blanched face, jumped 
up, crying,— 

" Run, run for your lives ; the derned thing's going to bust. Follow 
me, and let's save ourselves." 

Of course, there was a stampede for the rear of the boat, and it was 
only by the exertions of some of the crew that the more excited were 
restrained from jumping into the river. 

18^4^. — The First English Steam Collier was built in 1844. 
She was bark-rigged. The " King Coal," as she is appropriately called, 
one of the latest, was contracted for in 1870, and cost complete for sea 
fifteen thousand pounds. She carries nine hundred tons coal cargo, 
with burden space for one hundred tons more, and has extra water- 
ballast when she has no cargo on board ; against strong winds her speed 
is eight and a half knots an hour loaded, and from nine and a half to 
ten knots in fine weather when light; her power, ninety horse-power, 
nominal. She has a saloon-cabin on deck for the captain, with four 
berths aft, and accommodation for chief mate and steward forward. 
Her crew, all told, is seventeen. Her voyages from New Castle to 
London and back usually occupy six to eight days. Hoisting sails, 
lifting the anchor, and other heav^y work are done by steam winches. 
The crew have a roomy and well- ventilated forecastle level with the 
main-deck ; the seamen occupy one side, the stokers the other, with a 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 203 

bulkhead between. The engineers have cabins on deck in the bridge- 
house. The wheel-house is amidship and the helmsman is protected 
from the weather. 

The ordinary sailing collier delivered in the course of the year 
under the most favorable circumstances three thousand five hundred 
tons of coal. The screw collier, with a complement, all told, of seven- 
teen men, conveys annually, on the same round, fifty thousand tons. 
Steam colliers have been generally adopted in the United States, and 
the Eeading Company has quite a fleet of them. 

1844' — Steam propellers, carrying principally freight, but some 
passengers, commenced navigating Long Island Sound in 1844. The 
first was called the ^' Quinebaug.'^ 

i^^^.— The " Midas.''— The propeller schooner ^' Midas,'' Cap- 
tain William Poor, owned by R. B. Forbes, of Boston, left New York 
for China, November 18, 1844. She was the first American steam 
vessel that passed beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and was the first 
American screw steamer to ply in the waters of China. She was dis- 
abled by neglect to her boilers, and came home via Rio Janeiro under 
sail, and ran for a long time after between Savannah and Rio Janeiro 
as a sailing-vessel. 

i^^._THE "Edith."— The propeller bark "Edith," Captain 
George W. Lewis, owned by R. B. Forbes, left New York for Bombay 
and China January 18, 1845. She proceeded from Bombay to China 
in twenty-one and one-half days, beating all competitors. She was 
the first American steamer that visited British India, and the first 
square-rigged propeller that went to China under the American flag. 
She was purchased by the United States government during the war 
with Mexico, and after running in the Gulf of Mexico for a year 
went around Cape Horn, and was lost near St. Barbara, on the coast 
of California. 

The "Iron Witch."— In April, 1845, R. B. Forbes contracted 
with Ericsson to build an iron paddle-wheel steamer of great speed, 
called the " Iron Witch." She was about three hundred feet long, and 
was the first iron passenger steamer that plied on the North River. 
She had side propellers in place of paddles, but was not fast enough to 
compete with the Albany boats. Her engines were, therefore, taken 
out and put into a wooden vessel called the " Falcon," which was 
bought by George Law, and was the first steamer under the American 
flag that plied to Chagres, in connection with the California route.^ 

1845. — Auxiliary Steamships for the Royal Navy Or- 
dered. — The commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the 
national defenses of Great Britain recojnmended that several ships of 
the line should be fitted with steam machinery and screw propellers, 
and the Board of Admiralty in 1845 issued an order to prepare the 
1 See account of George Law's line in succeeding pages. 



204 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

" Blenheim/' " Ajax/' '' Edinburgh," and " Hague," 72-gun ships, for 
adaptation to screw steamers. Four 42-gun frigates were ordered to 
be similarly prepared. The " Blenheim" was lengthened and altered 
at an outlay of above forty-three thousand pounds on her huU, and 
twenty-five thousand pounds for machinery before she was completed 
as a guard ship. The expense of altering and adapting the other 
vessels was much less. 

The term '^ auxiliarj^," which has been found a most convenient 
application when a steam vessel does not come up to the anticipated 
speed, came from England, and in the British navy was never designed 
for new vessels, but only for those sailing vessels already built which 
could not be driven beyond a moderate speed. The screw was added 
to save condemnation. 

i^^.— The ''Erebus" and " Terror."— The two vessels of 
Captain Franklin's ill-fated expedition in search of the Northwest 
passage, which sailed from England on the Queen's birthday. May 24, 
1845, were provided with a small steam-engine and screw, intended for 
use in calms. 

184S. — Early in 1841, Thomas Butler King, of Georgia, for many 
years chairman of the committee of the United States House of Rep- 
resentatives on naval affairs, introduced a resolution directing the Sec- 
retary of the Navy to advertise for proposals for mail steamships to 
European ports, and for a coastwise line between the North and South. 
Persevering in his efforts from session to session, he succeeded in hav- 
ing a bill passed in 1845 placing the arrangement for the transporta- 
tion of the mails to foreign countries under the direction of the 
Postmaster-General, and authorizing him to solicit proposals for 
several routes. This led to the formation of the Ocean Steam Navi- 
gation Company of New York, which in 1847 built and placed the 
" Washington" and the " Hermann" on the route to Southampton and 
Bremen. They were the first American ocean steamships after the 
'' Savannah," and at the time of their construction the best specimens of 
sea steamers our constructors and engineers had produced. Their aver- 
age passages from Cowes to New York were thirteen days, fourteen hours, 
and fifty-three minutes; from New York to Cowes, fourteen days, 
seven hours, and seventeen minutes. The contract between this " Ocean 
Steam Navigation Company" and the United States was for them to 
carry the United States mails between New York and Bremen twice a 
month, touching at Cowes, the compensation to be two hundred thou- 
sand dollars per annum. The two steamships were two hundred and 
twenty-four feet long, thirty-nine feet broad, and twenty-nine feet 
deep, and measured seventeen hundred tons. At the expiration of the 
contract the line was discontinued, the steamers were sold, and trans- 
ferred to the Pacific, where in 1863 the " Hermann" was broken up, 
and a few years later the " Washington" was wrecked. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 205 

18 45. — The United States Steamer " Water Witch^'^ — The 
first iron steamer built for the United States navy was the " Water 
Witch." She was intended as a water-tank to supply the vessels of 
the Portsmouth (Va.) !N^avy-York with water, and was originally 
fitted with Hunter's horizontal submerged wheels. She proved too 
large for the purpose intended, and was then fitted for a harbor vessel 
and tug. Her performance not being satisfactory, she was taken to 
Philadelphia, cut in two, and lengthened thirty feet at the centre, the 
width being also increased six inches. The whole machinery was 
taken out and she was fitted with a Losser propeller. In 1849 she 
was again fitted with entirely new machinery, without alteration of 
hull, and fitted with ordinary paddle-wheels at the sides. In 1852 
the iron hull, as originally constructed, proving too narrow for an 
efficient and safe war steamer, it was used as a target for experiment 
gun-practice at Washington, and a new one of wood of enlarged pro- 
portions and greater strength was ordered by the Department. Thus, 
like the boy's jack-knife that by repairs was changed, both blades and 
handle, until it was questionable whether he could call it the old knife 
or a new one, the iron submerged w^heel, water-tank, propeller, and 
paddle-wheel steamer "• Water Witch'' became at last a wooden paddle- 
wheel boat of increased dimensions, having both a new hull and new 
engines. She was finally surprised and captured by the rebels during 
our Civil War and destroyed by them. 

184s. — The ^' Massachusetts." — Captain R. B. Forbes says, " In 
1845 I built the auxiliary steam propeller ^Massachusetts' for myself 
and others, and sailed in her on the loth of September, or thereabouts, 
from Xew York for Liverpool, and arrived on the 2d of October, 
having used steam nearly eleven days out of seventeen and a half. 
This was the first packet-ship under steam that started and performed 
more than one complete voyage between the United States and England 
under the American flag, and was the first propeller that was put into 
the trade." The propeller " Marmora" went to England before the 
" Massachusetts," on her w^ay to the Mediterranean, and the steamer 
" Bangor" (paddle), which had been a packet between 'Boston and 
Portland, Maine, went to Gibraltar ; but the " Massachusetts" was the 
first regular steam packet-ship between the United States and England 
under our flag. 

The propeller of the "Massachusetts"^ was of composition metal, 
nine feet in diameter. She had two cylinders of 17,640 cubic inches 
each, set at right angles. The propeller was contrived to take out of 
the water at pleasure, and when out of water the ship was a perfect 
sailing-ship of about seven hundred tons. She made two voyages from 
Xew York to Liverpool and back, and was then chartered, and after- 

^ Portraits of the "Massachusetts" and "Edith" are preserved in the ]SraTal 
Library and Institute at the Boston Navy-Yard. 



206 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

wards sold to the War Department. General Scott had his flag on 
board the ^^ Massachusetts" at the taking of Vera Cruz. She was 
transferred to the Navy Department and went through the Straits of 
Magellan to California. 

During the Civil \Yar her engines, which were designed by Ericsson, 
were taken out and she was refitted as a storeship and renamed the 
^^ Farralones." After the war she was sold in San Francisco and re- 
named the " Alaska/' and was engaged in carrying wheat from that 
port to Liverpool, and, for aught I know, " still lives.'' 

18^6. — Steamboats on the Thames. — In 1846 there were eleven 
steamboats running between London and Westminster Bridges on the 
Thames at one penny the trip, making thirty-two trips in the hour, or 
three hundred and twenty trips per diem. Assuming forty as the 
average number of passengers for each trip, the daily total would be 
fifteen thousand, and the return trip being the same, one hundred and 
twenty-five pounds was about the daily receipts of these boats. The 
time of each trip varied from one-quarter to one-half hour. 

184^6. — The " Oregon." — The Hudson Eiver steamer " Oregon," 
the most magnificent steamer afloat in 1846, it is said maintained a 
speed against a west-northwest gale and head sea of twenty miles per 
hour. In calm weather she made an average speed of twenty-five 
miles per hour. Her length was three hundred and thirty feet, by 
thirty-five feet width of beam, and her measurement one thousand 
tons, with berth accommodations for six hundred passengers. Her 
engine was of eleven hundred horse-power, and had a seventy-two- 
inch cylinder with eleven feet stroke. On the main deck, the inclosed 
space from the ladies' cabin forward formed a promenade two hundred 
feet long. The massive engine in the centre, and four or five side 
parlors, fitted up with ten or twelve berths each, opened out over the 
guards, as also a smoking-room, denominated the " Exchange," and 
the wash-room and barber's-shop, — the latter fitted up with marble 
slab, Croton water, wash-bowls, etc. In the main cabin a continuous 
line of berths extended over three hundred feet from end to end of the 
boat, numbering some two hundred. This included the after-cabin, 
which was connected by an ample passage-way with the forward one. 
Five hundred yards of carpeting covered the floors in these cabins. 
Each berth was fitted with Mackinaw blankets and Marseilles quilts, 
having the name of the steamer worked in them. A thirty-pound 
mattress, and also bolsters and pillows, with linen of the finest quality, 
completed the equipment of the berths. The curtains were of satin de 
laine of rich tints, with embroidered inner curtains. 

^^ A portion of the after-cabin was set aside for ladies, and distin- 
guished by extra trimmings, blue and gold curtains, etc. The dining- 
saloon accommodated two hundred and fifty persons. The table service 
was of the richest French china, every article marked with the name 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 207 

of the steamer ; the glassware was heavy star-cut. The silver-plated 
ware was of Priuce Albert pattern, very heavy and costly. But the 
transition from this show-room to the ladies' upper cabin was as great 
as from that of a common ferry-boat cabin. There the magnificent 
fittings dazzled the eye. Nothing was wanting which could add rich- 
ness, splendor, or luxury. There were seven tiers of berths and three 
state-rooms upon each side, the cabin being seventy feet long. At the 
extreme stern was the wash-room, fitted with even more comfort than 
that for gentlemen. Each side of the entrance were full-length mirrors 
that at first glance were often mistaken for doors opening into another 
cabin. The state-room doors were of enameled white, richly gilt, and 
their interior embellishments, like the cabin, splendid and beautiful. 
The front of the ladies' cabin from the main-deck was splendid. The 
architecture was plain, with an enameled white ground profusely gilt, 
with raised flowers upon the gilt pillars. A time-piece was placed 
over the door and stained glass around it." 

The " state-room hall" on the upper deck was two hundred and 
twenty feet long by sixteen wide, except the space occupied by the 
engine in the centre. Out of it opened sixty state-rooms, furnished in 
sumptuous style ; three were double ones, and a fourth was fitted up 
as a '^ bridal-room" with good taste, and with a wide French bedstead, 
etc. 

Forward of this hall w^as a lounge, from which there was an un- 
obstructed view ahead of the progress of the boat and passing objects. 
Astern was a promenade-deck. State-room hall and main cabin were 
adorned with superb mirrors set in rich frames. The cost of the 
furniture and fittings was thirty thousand dollars, and of the boat 
itself one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. She was built under 
the superintendence of her commander, Captain St. John, and her 
symmetry, the beauty of her model, and the arrangement of her 
engines, which gave her unrivaled speed, were the result of his long 
and practical experience. 

18Jf,6. — First American Mail Steamships. — The first regular 
American ocean mail steamship was the " Southerner." She was built 
in 1846 and put on the route between !N'ew York and Charleston, 
South Carolina. She was followed by the " Falcon" and others in the 
trade to Southern ports. 

184-7. — The first French Atlantic steamer arrived at New York 
from Cherbourg on the 8th of July, 1847. 

^^^7.— The " United States."— W. H. Webb in 1847 built for 
Messrs. C. H. Marshall & Co., the owners of the celebrated Black 
Ball line of packet-ships, for the New York and Liverpool trade, the 
steamer "United States," of two thousand tons burden, which in 
April, 1848, sailed on her first voyage to Liverpool. She was the first 
American steamer built for the Atlantic Ocean freight and passenger 



208 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

trade, made several voyages, did not pay, was withdrawn and sold to 
parties in Bremen, and was added to the navy of the new German 
Confederation. She had a flat bottom with a concave floor. In 
several respects she differed from any vessel previously constructed. 
She was also the first commercial steamship constructed to be of use to 
the government naval service. She could be armed with two tiers of 
guns, had plenty of room in which to work them, and could carry coal 
enough for a voyage to Europe. Her first trip to Liverpool occupied 
thirteen days and consumed forty tons of coal daily, — five hundred and 
twenty tons. She was two hundred and fifty-six feet long, fifty feet 
broad, and thirty and a half feet deep. 

184-9. — The Law Line. — This at one time highly successful line 
of mail steamers was established by Law, Roberts & Co., under a 
government contract with A. G. Sloo, made in conformity with the law 
of Congress of March 2, 1847, for carrying the United States mails 
between New York and California and Oregon. The line owed its 
origin to the enterprise, intelligent policy, and business capacity of 
George Law, of New York, who at an early day in the history of 
California did mucli to hasten the introduction of civilization and 
comfort upon the shores of the Pacific, and to convey the countless 
thousands of immigrants to their new homes and bring back intelli- 
gence of their arrival. 

The " Ohio" was the first vessel built for this line under the law of 
Congress in 1849. Her hull w^as strongly built and had a diagonal 
bracing of three-inch round iron extending the whole length of the 
vessel between the keelson and main-deck beams. The " Georgia," a 
sister vessel, was framed in the same manner, but was of different 
model. She exhibited in her model the first signal departure from 
the sail-packets that had been so celebrated. The general dimensions 
of these two steamers were, — 

"Ohio." "Georgia." 

Length on deck 248 feet. 255 feet. 

Breadth of beam . 45^ '* 49 " 

Depth of hold 24J " 25J " 

Tonnage 2397 tons. 2695 tons. 

Average draught 15J feet. 17 feet. 

Diameter of paddle-wheels 36 " 36 '' 

Their engines were of the side- lever variety and had double- 
balanced valves, the steam-valve being worked by one eccentric so 
adjusted as to cut off the steam at any part of the stroke, while the 
exhaust- valve, being worked by a separate eccentric, could be set to 
give any desired lead. Each steamer had two engines. Diameter of 
the cylinders, 90 inches ; stroke of piston, 3 f^Qt. There were four 
iron boilers in each, — two forward and two abaft the engines. Each 
boiler was 21 J feet long, 15 feet wide, and 14 feet high, with five rows 
of flues and four furnaces with grates 8 feet in length. The arrange- 



HISIORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 209 

ment of the flues was different from any previously built. The average 
speed of these vessels in good weather was 12 knots. 

The ^' Illinois/^ the next vessel built for the line, was constructed 
under the immediate direction of George Law. Her length on deck 
was 267 feet 9 inches ; length of keel, 255 feet ; breadth of beam, 
40 feet 3 inches ; depth of hold to spar deck, 31 feet. She was fitted 
with two oscillating engines. The diameter of the cylinder was 85 
inches ; stroke of piston, 9 feet ; diameter of paddle-wheels, 33 feet 
6 inche-i ; breadth of paddle-wheels, 10 feet 6 inches. She had four 
return tubular iron boilers, with two smoke-pipes, and was barquentine 
rigged. Her maximum speed was 13 J miles per hour. On one 
occasion she ran from Chagres to New York, one thousand nine hun- 
dred and eighty miles, in six days and sixteen hours, being an average 
or nearly twelve and a half miles per hour the whole voyage. 

Besides these vessels the company chartered the "Falcon,^'^ which 
was chiefly employed in carrying the mail between Havana and Ncav 
Orleans. Her length on deck was 206 feet ; beam, 30| feet ; depth of 
hold, 21 feet; average draught, 12 feet; tonnage, 875 tons; average 
speed, 9 knots. 

These steamers were all running on the line between Chagres and 
New York in 1853. 

184-7. — The Bremen Line. — The first American transatlantic 
steamers after the " Savannah" (1818) were the " "Washington'' and the 
"Hermann,'' constructed in 1847 to form a monthly communication 
between New York and Bremen. The hulls of these sister ships were 
built by Westervelt & Mackay and the machinery by Stillman, Allen 
<fe Co., of New York. The following were their general dimensions : 

"Washington." "Hermann." 

Length on raain-deck 230 feet. 235 feet. 

Length on spar-deck ...*.... 236 " 241 " 

Breadth of beam 39 " 40 " 

Depth of hold 31 " 31 " 

Average draught 19| " 19J " 

Tonnage C. H. measurements . . . 1700 tons. 1800 tons. 

Kind of engines two side lever. two side lever. 

Diameter of cylinders 6 feet. 6 feet. 

Length of stroke 10 " 10 " 

Diameter of paddle-wheels .... 34f " 36 " 

Average speed per hour 11 knots. ... 

Several alterations were made in the boilers and paddle-wheels after 
their first construction. 

1850. — The Havke Line. — The " Franklin," constructed in 
1848, and the "Humboldt" in 1850, built to be added to the Bremen 
Line, were built and equipped by the same firms as those of the Bremen 

^The "Falcon," it will be recollected, received the engines of the "Iron 
Witch," the first iron Hudson Kiver boat. 

16 



210 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Line, but were placed by Messrs. Fox & Livingston to run between 
New York and Havre. Their average passages from New York to 
Cowes, from January 1 to December 1, 185.2, were 12 days, 17 hours, 
9 minutes, and from Cowes to New York 12 days, 22 hours each. 
The general dimensions of these two steamships were, — 

" Franklin." " Humboldt." 

Length on deck . 263 feet. 292 feet. 

Breadth of beam 41| " 40 '* 

Depth of hold . 26 '' 27 " 

Average draught 18 " 19|- " 

Breadth across the paddles .... 32 " 72 " 

Diameter of paddle-wheels .... 32J " 85 " 

Engines two side lever. two side lever. 

Diameter of cylinders 7| feet. 95 inches. 

Length of stroke 8 " 9 feet. 

Tonnage 2400 tons. 2850 tons. 

Each had four iron flue boilers, placed back to back. 

The New York and Havre Steam Navigation Company, to which 
these steamships belonged, was established in 1848, to ply between 
Havre and New York, stopping at Southampton both going and re- 
turning, and obtained a contract for carrying the United States mails, 
for which they were to receive one hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
per annum for a fortnightly service. The " Franklin" was launched 
in 1848, and made her first voyage in 1850. In July, 1854, she was 
wrecked and totally lost on Long Island. The "Humboldt'' made 
her first voyage in 1851, and was wrecked entering- Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, in October, 1853. 

To preserve the mail contract, the service was supplied by chartering 
unsuitable steamers at heavy cost until 1855-56, when the '^ Arago" and 
the " Fulton" were built and placed on the line. On the breaking out 
of the Rebellion, in 1861, the line was withdrawn. The " Arago" was 
sold to the Peruvian government, and the hull of the " Fulton" was 
broken up, dry rot rendering her useless as a sailing-ship. Her engines 
were utilized elsewhere. 

The "Fulton" (1856) was built by Smith & Denison under the 
superintendence of Captain Wm. Skiddy ; the engines by the Morgan 
Iron Works. Her dimensions were : Length on deck, 290 feet ; 
breadth of beam, 42 feet 4 inches; breadth over all, 65 feet 6 inches; 
depth of hold, 31 feet 6 inches; tonnage, custom house, 2300 tons; 
tonnage, cargo, and measurement, 3000 tons ; diameter of cylinder, 
65 inches ; length of stroke, 10 feet ; diameter of paddle-wheels, 31 
feet ; length of paddles, 9 feet ; number of paddles on each wheel, 28 
feet; width of paddles, 18 inches; and shafts of wrought iron. She 
had two iron Martin boilers with vertical seamless brass tubes, 12 feet 
long, 30 feet wide, drawn from ingots by the American Tube Company, 
Boston, and a fire and heating surface of 9100 square feet. The 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 211 

"Fulton'^ had three decks. On the berth-deck she had accommo- 
dation for 150 first- and second-class passengers, and could accommodate 
300 ; and she could carry 800 tons of coal and 700 tons of freight. 
Her draught of water was seventeen and a half feet. She was furnished 
with two inclined oscillating engines. 

Mr. Rainey, in his work on "Ocean Steam Navigation/^ says, 
" When one of our first American mail steamers sailed for Europe, no 
practical marine engineers could be found to work her engines. She 
took a first-class engineer and corps of assistants from one of the North 
River packets ; but as soon as the ship got to sea and heavy breakers 
came on, all the engineers and firemen were taken deadly seasick, and 
for three days it was constantly expected the ship would be lost." 

184,8.— Th.^ " California."— The steamer " California," which 
left New York on the 6th of October, 1848, was the first steamer to 
bear the American flag to the Pacific Ocean, and the first to salute 
with a new life the solitudes of that rich and untrodden territory. She 
was soon followed by the " Panama" and the " Oregon," and in due time 
by the "Tennessee," the " Golden Gate," the " Columbia," the "John 
L. Stevens," the " Sonora," the "' Republic," the " Northerner," the 
" Fremont," the " Tobago," the " St. Louis," and the " Golden Age." 
These steamers found nothing ready to receive them in the Pacific. 
The company was compelled to construct large workshops and foundries 
for their repair, and had also to build their own dry-dock, that of the 
government at Mare Island not being ready until 1854. For a large 
portion of the early time the company had to pay thirty dollars per 
ton for coal, and once as high as fifty dollars per ton.^ 

1848, — The Use of Iron for Steamers distrusted. — In the 
report of a Parliamentary committee on the state of the British navy 
in 1848, it was said, " Contradictory evidence was given the commit- 
tee as to the applicability of iron to the construction of war steamers, 
and the committee therefore oifer no opinion on the matter. The pres- 
ent Board of Admiralty distrust the use of iron in the construction of 
war steamers; and the committee consider that while so important a 
question is in abeyance, the expenditure of a large sum for construct- 
ing such vessels must be regarded as an inconsiderate outlay of the 
public money." 

Dublin and Holyhead Packets. — In 1848 the "Banshee" 
and the " Llewellyn" commenced to run between Dublin and Holyhead 
as mail packets, and on their trial trips attained a speed of upward of 
eighteen statute miles per hour. 

The public soon required faster and more commodious steamers, 
and in 1860 the " Connaught," " Ulster," " Munster," and "Leinster," 
iron steamboats, were built, of the following dimensions : Length be- 
tween the perpendiculars, 334 feet; beam, 35 feet; depth, 21 feet. 
^ See account of this company under head of Ocean Steamship Company. 



212 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

They had a central keel-plate 3 feet deep, f-inch thick, with two bars 
9 inches deep. They had nine iron water-tight bulkheads. The ^^ Lein- 
ster," on her trial, made twenty and a half statute miles. The " Con- 
naught,'' twenty and three-quarter statute miles. Each of these vessels 
cost near £80,000 when complete in all respects for sea. 

i(5^P.— The " Mint."— R. B. Forbes, of Boston, Massachusetts, 
in 1849, sent to California, on the deck of the ship " Samoset," an iron 
steamer called the "Mint," about seventy-five feet long by fifteen beam. 
She was stowed on the starboard side of the ship, the deck-house being 
removed over to the port side to balance her, and was launched under 
steam. She was the first American steamer to ply on the Sacramento. 
In 1850 he sent an iron paddle-wheel steamer in two parts to China on 
the deck of the brig "Rolling Wave," on account of Captain J. B. Endicot. 

184^9. — The "Sansom," the first screv^ steam tug in the United 
States, was built by Messrs. Cramp & Sons in 1849. 

18S0. — First Steamer on Lake Titicaca, P^ru. — A small 
iron steamboat was built by Mr. George Birbeck, Jr., of New York, 
intended to ply on Lake Titicaca, Peru. She was 55 feet keel, 12 feet 
beam, and 5 feet hold, and was propelled by two high-pressure engines 
of 10 horse-power each, connected at right angles. Her wheels were 
of wrought iron 10 feet in diameter. The boat was put together in New 
York, and each piece marked. She was then taken apart to be shipped. 
No piece was to exceed 350 pounds, as on its arrival at Lima it was to 
be transported on mule- back to Lake Titicaca, which is 140 miles long. 

•18S0.—Tu:e Twin Steamer " Gemini."— In the autumn of 1850 
Mr. Peter Borrie launched what he called a " safety iron twin steamer," 
which he appropriately named the "Gemini," adapted for carrying 
goods, passengers, cattle, and all sorts of vehicles, and for either ocean 
or river navigation. 

This vessel was chiefly constructed of iron, having two separate 
hulls placed side by side (with a space between them in which the pad- 
dle-wheel worked) strongly connected together at the deck (which passed 
over all), and also by a plate-iron arch and stays between the hulls. 
The hulls thus joined afforded a great extent of deck-room with a very 
small amount of tonnage, or of resistance from the area passing through 
the fluid; and, as both ends were exactly similar, it was expected the 
vessel would steam with equal facility either way without turning. 
The keels and stems were not placed in the centre of the hulls, but to- 
wards the inside of them, thus making the water-lines very fine on the 
inside, to diminish the tendency of the water to gorge up between the 
hulls, found to take place in twin steamers as usually constructed ; 
which gorging tends to separate the two hulls and increases their 
resistance in passing through the water. The inner bilges of the two 
hulls were fuller than the outer ones, to afford a greater degree of 
buoyancy on the inside, necessary to support the weight of the deck, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 213 

etc., between the hulls. The vessel was adapted for river navigation, at 
a high degree of velocity ; but a vessel for sea purposes would require 
to be made broader in proportion to her length, according to the trade 
in which she was to be placed. 

The " Gemini" was one hundred and fifty-seven and a half feet 
long and twenty-six and a half feet broad on deck, each hull being 
eight and a half feet broad, with a space of nine and a half feet between 
them. Her frames were of angle-iron and spaced, the outside plating 
being securely riveted to them. The keels were formed by curving 
the plates downward so as to form channels for the bilge-water inside 
of the hulls ; but in sea-going and other vessels, where the draught of 
water would be greater, Mr. Borrie proposed keels of iron bars, and to 
rivet the garboard strakes upon them in the usual way. The plating 
was not carried to the top of the frames on the inside of the hulls, ex- 
cept at the space in the middle for the paddle-wheel, but was carried 
up to the deck, so as to form an arch between the two hulls, which 
were also bound together with iron stays at the springing of the arch. 
The deck-beams were of T-shaped iron, securely fastened at the ends 
to the frames, and at the middle to the top of the arch. The deck- 
planks were fixed to the beams by screws passing through the flanges 
of the beams, and calked and made water-tight in the usual way. 
Each of the hulls was divided into compartments by water-tight bulk- 
heads. There were also fenders of angle-iron, one at each end, to pre- 
vent boats, etc., from getting into the canal or space between the hulls. 
The deck was bounded by bulwarks, which had two large gangways on 
each side, hinged at the lower side to the decks, and lifted up or lowered 
by winches attached to the bulwarks. On each end of the paddle-box 
were a number of deck-houses, — a cook-house, with apparatus in it for 
cooking by steam, a state-room, a dining-room, engineer's room, etc. 
On the top of the deck-houses and paddle-box was a platform, or hur- 
ricane-deck, upon which the steering-wheels were placed ; and, being 
properly railed in, could be used as a promenade for passengers. 

The vessel, having to steam with equal facility either way without 
turning, was fitted with a rudder at each end. The rudder was in the 
middle of the canal between the hulls, and was formed of an iron 
plate upon a shaft or spindle coming up to the deck, which shaft was 
not in the centre of the plate but about one-third of its length from 
the one side, so that the pressure of the water against the rudder acted 
partly on both sides of its centre of motion ; but when the rudder 
was left free it always accommodated itself to the direction of the 
vessel's motion, one end being longer than the other from the centre of 
motion. 

The steering-wheels were on the top of the paddle-box in the 
middle of the vessel ; thus the man at the wheel, from his elevated 
position, had a clear view. The clear area on deck for passengers. 



214 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

including the hurricane-deck above the accommodations at each end 
of the paddle-box, was two thousand six hundred square feet, and the 
area of the cabin floors was six hundred square feet, so that there 
was ample accommodation to carry from eight hundred to one thousand 
passengers with ease and safety. 

1851-52. — Average Passages of the Cunaed and Collins 
Steamers. — There was great rivalry in 1851-52 between the Cunard 
and Collins lines of steamships between England and the United 
States, which resulted as follows : 

In 1851 the Collins Line in fourteen trips from Liverpool to New 
York, averaged 11 days, 8 hours. The quickest trip was made by 
the '^ Baltic," in 9 days, 13 hours. The longest by the ''Atlantic,'' 
in 13 days, 17 hours, and 30 minutes. In fourteen trips from New 
York to Liverpool the average time per trip was 10 days, 23 hours. 
Quickest trip by the " Baltic,'' 10 days, 4 hours, 45 minutes. Longest 
by the ''Baltic," 12 days, 9 hours. 

In 1851 the Cunard Line, in fourteen trips from Liverpool to 
New York, averaged 11 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes. Quickest trip 
by the "Africa," 10 days, 16 hours, 50 minutes. Longest by the 
" Europa," 17 days, 2 hours, 50 minutes. In fourteen trips from New 
York to Liverpool the average time was 10 days, 13 hours. Quickest 
trip by the " Africa," 10 days, 5 hours, 35 minutes. Longest by the 
" Europa," 14 days, 3 hours. 

In 1852 the Collins Line averaged, in thirteen trips from Liver- 
pool to New York, per trip, 11 days, 22 hours. Quickest trip by the 
"Atlantic," 10 days, 3 hours. Longest by the "Pacific," 15 days, 4 
hours, 30 minutes. In thirteen trips, the same year, from New York 
to Liverpool, the average was 11 days, 1 hour. Quickest trip by the 
" Arctic," 9 days, 13 hours, 30 minutes. Longest by the " Baltic," 
12 days, 21 hours. 

In 1852 the average of thirteen trips of the Cunard Line from 
Liverpool to New York per trip was 13 days, 3 hours, 3 minutes. 
Quickest trip by the "Asia," 10 days, 19 hours. Longest by the 
"Niagara," 20 days, 19 hours. In thirteen trips from New York to 
Liverpool the average was 11 days, 5 hours. Quickest trip by the 
"Asia," 10 days, 5 hours, 10 minutes. Longest by the "Asia," 12 
,days, 21 hours, 30 minutes. 

In 1860 the Collins steamer "Baltic" made the trip from New 
York to Liverpool in 9 days, 13 hours, 30 minutes. 

1851. — The "Himalaya," — The screw steamship "Himalaya" 
was launched on the anniversary of the Queen's birthday, May 24, 
1851. The launch was witnessed by the directors of the Peninsular 
and Oriental Company, for which the vessel was built, and a noble and 
fashionable assembly. The naming was by Lady Matheson, wife of 
Sir James Matheson, chairman of the company. On a given signal, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 215 

shortly before high tide, the vessel glided gently into the water amid 
the cheers of the spectators. 

The " Himalaya," designed and built under the inspection of F. 
Wattman, Jr., at Blackwall, was commenced in November, 1850 ; her 
length between perpendiculars ^vas three hundred and forty feet; 
breadth, forty-six feet two inches ; depth of hold, thirty-four feet nine 
inches ; and she was three thousand five hundred and fifty tons burden, 
and had engines of seven hundred horse-power. She was intended to 
have paddle-wheels, with engines of twelve hundred horse-power, but 
before she was too far advanced it was decided she should be fitted with 
a screw propeller and engines of seven hundred horse-power on the 
most approved principle. She carried twelve hundred tons of fuel, 
with accommodation for four hundred cabin passengers, five hundred 
tons measurement goods, and had ample space for mail-rooms, etc. In 
strength of build and form for speed the " Himalaya" was at that day 
unrivaled, having six water-tight bulkheads, and she was fitted with 
every appliance for safety. She was provided with " Trotman's im- 
proved Porter's" anchors, the bower-anchors weighing respectively 
forty-eight and fifty hundredweight, in lieu of ordinary anchors of 
five tons each. The cabin arrangements with regard to ventilation 
were excellent, and combined elegance with simplicity. 

1852. — The "Francis Skiddy." — The magnificent side- wheel 
steamer " Francis Skiddy," which plied between New York and Al- 
bany in 1852, was built by George Colyer. She was three hundred 
and twenty-five feet in length, thirty-eight and a half feet beam, 
eleven and a half feet depth of hold. Her engine was of one beam, 
seventy-inch cylinder, and fourteen-feet stroke. Her water-wheel was 
forty feet in diameter, twelve feet face, thirty-three-inch bucket. She 
had four low-pressure boilers, twenty-four feet long, nine feet face, 
capable of seventy pounds of steam, with a blowing-engine attached to 
each of twelve-inch cylinder and twelve-inch stroke. Her consump- 
tion of fuel was two thousand pounds per hour. Her draught of 
water, five and a half feet. As a provision against danger she had 
three fire-pumps, — two to work by hand and one by steam, with 
six hundred and fifty feet of hose attached, together with fire- 
buckets, a life-preserver for every passenger, and a supply of Francis's 
metallic life-boats, etc. Her appointments were magnificent. The 
main cabin, three hundred feet in length, was capable of seating five 
hundred people, and was arranged in the most commodious manner. 
There w^as also an immense saloon, opening upon sixty state-rooms. 
This was surmounted with a dome or arch, decorated with stained 
glass, which cost ten thousand dollars. 

1852. — The "Australian," the First Mail Steamer to 
Australia. — The " Australian" was the first to make the mail steam 
voyage from England to Australia. She was built at Dumbarton, for 



216 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Messrs. Canard & Co., for the Canadian trade. She steamed from 
Plymouth, England, on her first voyage to Australia June 5, 1852, 
and reached King George's Sound, West Australia, August 20 ; Ade- 
laide, August 29 ; Melbourne, September 2 ; and returned January 11, 
1853, having completed the voyage in two hundred and twenty-one 
days, one hundred and sixty-five of which were under steam and sails, 
and fifty-six in port, taking in mails, coal, and lading. The follow- 
ing account of her voyage out is extracted from Chambers^s Journal 
for 1854: 

^' The public mind was excited to a pitch of feverish anxiety con- 
cerning the gold discoveries in Australia, and, in order to provide for 
the delivery of mails to and from the colony with greater speed and 
regularity, a company was formed, pledged to effect this by a line of 
great steamships. Even then people who ought to have known better 
confidently predicted that direct steam communication with Australia 
was impracticable. As in the case of crossing the Atlantic, nothing 
would convince them or settle the question but actual performance. 
Now, as the distance to be run is little short of sixteen thousand miles, 
it is obvious that no ship, unless of enormous size, could carry suffi- 
cient fuel to perform the entire voyage under steam without stopping 
to take in coal at stations on the way ; and this has caused hitherto 
considerable delay and great additional expense. The pioneer was the 
' Australia,' a large new Clyde-built iron steamship that first started 
from London, and, after some accidents and delays, finally left 
Plymouth with the mails on the 5th of June, 1852, under command 
of Captain Hoseason. She anchored at St. Vincent on the 16th to 
take in coal, which had previously been sent to the depot there from 
England. This occupied three days. The ship then proceeded on her 
vayage, and, after coaling at St. Helena, reached the Cape of Good 
Hope on the 19th of July, where she again coaled, sailing from Table 
Bay on the 22d, and anchored in King George's Sound, West Aus- 
tralia, on the 20th of August. There she received coal from a ship 
sent out with a cargo from England expressly for her, and a few days 
afterwards proceeded to Adelaide, which she reached on the 29th, and 
Melbourne on the 2d of September. This was the first voyage per- 
formed by a steamer from England to the antipodes. In some respects 
it was a badly-managed voyage, much unpleasantness occurring among 
both passengers and crew, repeated accidents .happening to the ma- 
chinery, and the coal running short between the stations, so that at 
times the engines stopped, and the vessel had to lie to or proceed under 
canvas. Nevertheless, it effectually demonstrated the practicability of 
the enterprise. She was followed by the ' Great Britain,' and steam- 
ships now perform with punctuality and dispatch the voyage to and 
from Australia, calling at the Cape both on the outward and homeward 
passage to land and receive mails and passengers, equal to that which 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 217 

distinguishes the Atlantic and Mediterranean steamers. Taking into 
consideration the prodigious expanse of ocean to be traversed, this is a 
triumphant reah'zation of the most sanguine hopes of those who have 
watched the progress of steam navigation.'' 

1852. — Fastest Steamers in the Royal Navy. — The second 
edition of Murray's "Marine Engine/' published in 1852, states that 
the "Terrible," the "Sidon,",and the "Odin" are "probably the 
fastest war steamers properly so called in the Koyal Navy. Of these, 
the ^Terrible/ with 226 feet length, 42 feet beam, 28 feet hold, and 
17 J feet load draught, attained a speed of ten knots per hour on 
trial with sea stores and guns on board. The * Sidon' (Sir Charles 
Napier's ship) with 210f feet length, 36| feet beam, and 27 feet hold, 
and with two engines of 6J feet stroke, and 86J inches diameter, has 
a speed on trial of ten knots ; while the speed of the ' Odin' is superior 
to either, being eleven and one-quarter knots, also on trial ; the average 
sea speed of the three being not to exceed nine knots. The few 
steamers then in the navy of the United States equaled in speed 
these at that time exceptionally fast steamers of the Royal Navy." 

1852. — Commodore M. O. Perry, in a letter to the Secretary of the 
Navy, February 8, 1852, wrote, " An ocean steamer of 3000 tons is of 
the maximum dimensions for safety and efficiency, whether for icar or 
commercial purposes." He did not foresee the immense ironclads and 
passenger steamers that a quarter of a century would develop. 

1852. — The Peninsula and Oriental Company was the first 
to adopt screw steamers for its regular service. In 1852 the " Chusan," 
of seven hundred and sixty-five tons, and the " Formosa," of six 
hundred and seventy-five tons, were placed upon the route between 
Hong-Kong and Shanghai. These were succeeded by the "Bengal," 
of two thousand one hundred and eighty-five tons, and the "Candia," 
of nineteen hundred and eighty-two tons, between Suez and Calcutta. 

In 1852 the iron steamer "Thistle," while proceeding along the 
coast, struck a rock on the north of Ireland, and steamed thence with- 
out assistance to Greenock, seventy nautical miles across the north 
channel, with the fore-deck under water, the fore and after compart- 
ments filled with water, and only the centre or engine compartment 
free. She returned to Greenock by the power of her own engines 
without assistance. The fact of a vessel of anly six hundred and 
seventy tons steaming across the Irish Channel safely, with her holds 
and cabins full of water, the mid-compartment only free, affords a 
strong testimony of the efficiency of water-tight bulkheads. 

1853. — The Aspinwall Line, originally established by Messrs. 
Howland and Aspinwall of New York, by an arrangement with the 
Law Line, performed mail service exclusively between Panama (on the 
Pacific coast), California, and Oregon, under government contract. 

The steamers of this line in the mail service in 1853 were the 



218 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



'' Golden Gate/' the ^' Tennessee/' the ^' Columbia/' the "Panama/' 
the "California/' the "Oregon/' and the "John L. Stevens." The 
" Golden Gate" was completed in 1851, and made a trial trip to An- 
napolis, where she was visited by the President of the United States, 
members of his Cabinet, and other distinguished persons. 

The following were the principal dimensions of these steamships : 



Dimensions. 


a 
6 


c 


a 


i 
S 

s 


a 

% 

O 


1 

a 

1 
o 




1 


Length on deck 

« " keel 


220 feet 

219 " 

29 " 

13 " 


212 feet 


200 feet 


200 feet 


200 feet 


265 feet 


280 feet 
270 " 


Breadth of beam 

Depth of hold 


35 feet 

22 " 


32 feet 

21 " 

1087 tons 

side lever 

70 inches 

8 feet 

26 " 


33 feet 

20 " 

1050 tons 

side lever 

70 inches 

8 feet 

26 " 


34 feet 

20 » 

1100 tons 

side lever 

70 inches 

8 feet 

26 " 


40 feet 

22 " 

2030 tons 

oscillating 

85 inches 

9 feet 

31 " 


40 " 

26 " 

2450 tons 




side lever 
67 inches 
5 feet 
22 " 


side lever 
75 inches 
8 feet 
32 " 


oscillating 
85 inches 
9 feet 
32 » 


Diameter of cylinders . . 

Stroke of piston 

Diameter of paddle-wheels 



18S3. — The " Forforo," a small iron screw steamer of forty- 
three tons and forty horse-power, rigged as a three-masted schooner, 
sailed July 17, 1853, from Liverpool for the West coast of South 
America, and arrived at Valparaiso November 15. The passage occu- 
pied one hundred and twenty-one days, — -forty-six under steam and 
sail, and twenty-eight under sail alone. She used in all one hundred 
and sixty tons of coal, and averaged six knots all the way. She was 
the smallest steamer that ever performed so long a voyage. 

1854-' — The First Steamer to Circumnavigate the Globe. 
— In 1854 the English screw steamship " Argo," eighteen hundred and 
fifty tons register, returned to England from Australia via Cape Horn, 
and was the first steamer that had circumnavigated the globe. She 
made the passage out to Australia via Cape of Good Hope in sixty- 
four days, and returned via Cape Horn in the same time. Since the 
ancient days of Jason and his " Golden Fleece" several celebrated ships 
have borne the renowned name of " Argo," and certainly we consider 
the present steamer not the least worthy of the number to be chron- 
icled in history. She has proved herself one of the most notable pioneer 
ships of the nineteenth century. 

1853-54- — The " Golden Age." — The American paddle-wheel 
steamer " Golden Age" arrived at Liverpool in 1853, where she at- 
tract ed much notice. She was of great size and power, built with all 
the latest transatlantic fashions and improvements, one of which was she 
had no bowsprit ! — something our English brothers then thought — 
though they have learned to know better — as indispensable as the nose 
on a man's face. Her owners resolved to send her to Australia, and 
she made the quickest passage out on record up to that time. But her 
subsequent voyage was far more memorable and important. On the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 219 

11th of May, 1854, she left Sydney, and in thirteen days reached Ta- 
hiti, where she took in the enormous weight of twelve hundred tons 
of coal. This occupied her six days; and on the 31st she sailed direct 
for the Isthmus of Panama, which she reached on the 19th of June, 
the passage from Sydney, including the long stoppage mentioned, thus 
being performed in about thirty-nine days ! This wonderful feat was 
rendered more remarkable from strong head-winds during the first part 
of the voyage and an estimated current against her course equal to an 
extra seven hundred and sixty-eight miles. From Tahiti, however, 
the sea was so smooth and the passage so mild that a canoe might have 
come the whole distance in safety. She arrived at Panama just in time 
to transfer two hundred passengers, her mails, and a million sterling in 
gold to the West Indian steamer '' Magdalena," at Chagres, and con- 
sequently letters from Sydney to the 11th, and from Melbourne to the 
5th of May — only sixty-seven days from Sydney ! — were received in 
London on the 18th of July, 1854. 

"Thus to American skill and enterprise," says the Edinburgh 
Journal, "credit is due for first opening direct steam communication 
across the vast Pacific, in that manner connecting Australia and Europe 
by the medium of Panama. We cannot read without regret that the 
spirited proprietors of the ' Golden Age' have incurred a dead loss of 
several thousand pounds by the experiment, solely owing to the cost of 
coal at Tahiti. But they have shown what can be done, and nothing 
can be more certain than that ere long arrangements will be made suf- 
ficiently economical to enable a regular line of noble steamships to trav- 
erse this novel route, and so bring us within two months' distance of 
Australia. To quote a newspaper paragraph, ^ Ever since Columbus set 
out across the Atlantic in search of India it has been the dream of 
commerce to reach the East by the West, and from the time that Bal- 
boa caught a glimpse of the great trans- American ocean from the 
heights of Darien, the world has looked forward to the junction of the 
two oceans at one point or another as the commencement of a new era 
in the history of commerce. Nevertheless, the Pacific has hitherto 
been a field of adventure rather than of regular commerce. Till re- 
cently it has been cut off from all direct communication with the trade 
and civilization of Europe and America. No maritime nations of im- 
portance have occupied any part of the extensive line of coast by which 
it is circumscribed, and within which it has lain in silent repose rather 
like a secluded lake than a mighty ocean. But a new destiny is begin- 
ning to dawn upon it. The ^ Golden Age' breaks in upon its isolation, 
and arouses it from its slumbers. She inaugurates an era in which its 
commerce will probably as far transcend that of the Atlantic as the 
latter eclipsed that of the Mediterranean.' " 

i(?5^-5^.— Side-Propellers on the Lakes. — Side-screw pro- 
pellers were advocated in 1856 as a substitute for the paddle-wheel. 



220 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

In 1854 the lake steamer "Baltic'' was thus altered at Buffalo. Her 
high-pressure paddle-wheel engines were taken out and replaced with 
side-propeller engines. She carried double the weight and run with 
half the fuel at a higher rate of speed after the change, notwithstand- 
ing her new engines rated sixty per cent, less power than her old ones. 
The " Baltic" was the first vessel to which this mode of propulsion 
was applied.^ 

In 1848 Gardner Stow patented a screw propeller on each side of 
the vessel, so that the inclined vanes of sheet iron or wood should dip 
into the water. 

1855. — The steam frigate " Mississippi" (paddle), flag-ship of Com- 
modore M. O. Perry on the Japan expedition, sailed from Norfolk, 
Virginia, November 24, 1852, arrived at the navy-yard, Brooklyn, 
New York, April 23, 1855, and was the first war steamship of the 
United States navy to circumnavigate the globe. She went to Japan 
via the Cape of Good Hope and returned via Cape Horn, or rather 
through the Straits of Magellan, having been absent two years and 
five months. 

The *' Mississippi" run aground in the attack upon Port Hudson in 
1863, and was set fire to and abandoned to avoid her surrender. 

April, 1856.— ThQ steamer "Baltic" (Collinses Line) had bulk- 
heads put into her hold in New York after making her last trip from 
Liverpool. These bulkheads should have been of iron instead of 
wood, which was cheaper. Why is it that water-tanks for vessels are 
made of iron, and the jire-tanhsy or the encasement for boilers and 
engines, are made of wood, neither fire-proof nor water-proof? Iron 
bulkheads are lighter, less bulky, and cheaper, if the safety of life is 
taken into account. 

1856. — Steam Vessels of the Eoyal Navy. — On the 1st of 
April, 1856, the steam-vessels belonging to the Royal Navy were, — ^ 

Guns. Horse-Power. 

43 line of battle-ships 3797 22,940 

24 frigates and mortar-vessels 889 10,560 

90 paddle-wheel vessels 500 24,640 

76 corvettes and sloops 761 16,202 

47 troop-ships 37 7,300 

155 gunboats 580 8,240 

435 6564 89,882 

In 1857 the American steamship ^^ Vanderbilt" made the run from 
New York to ^^ the Needles,'^ the western extremity of the Isle of 
Wight, in nine days and eight hours, and on her return trip in nine 
days, nine hours, twenty-four minutes. 

^ The Hudson Kiver steamer " Iron Witch" had sic?e-propellers in 1845. See 
ante^ page 203. 

2 Lardner's " Museum of Science." 



CHAPTEE v.— 1858-1882. 

The Great Eastern, 1858 ; Description of the Vessel, etc. ; Her Pirst Voyage to 
New York and Arrival described. — The Emperor, a Steam Yacht, presented 
to the Japanese, 1859. — The Scotland and England purchased by the Prince of 
Satsuma, 1861.— The Monitor, First Turreted Steam War-Vessel, J861.— The 
Paid Kabani Yacht of the Khedive, 1863. — Number of British Inventions 
patented in the Ten Years preceding 1866. — Steamers on Lake JVIeraphrema- 
gog, 1867.— The Kate Corser, the Pirst Steamer on the Great Salt Lake, 1869.— 
An Extraordinary Inland Voyage, 1869. — Coal-Saving Discovery, 1872. — The 
Cable Steamer Paraday, 1873. — A Chinese Steamboat Enterprise, 1874. — The 
Bessemer Anti-Sea-Sick Steamboat, 1875. — The Double-Hulled Castalia, 1875. 
—The lona, 1876.— Steamboats in Corea, 1878.— The Solano, 1879.— The Ee- 
markable Voyage of a Wrecked Steamer, 1880. — The Comet on Lake Bigllr, 
1880. — A Mountain Steamer on Twin Lakes, 1880. — The Three Brothers trans- 
ferred to the British Plag, 1880.— A Canal-Boat propelled by Air, 1880.— The 
Hochung, the Pirst Chinese Steamer to cross the Pacific, 1880. — The Chinese 
Steamer Meefoo arrives at London with a Cargo of Tea, 1881. — Taggart's 
Screws, 1880. — The Anthracite, the Smallest Steamer that has crossed the 
Atlantic, 1880.— The Harriet Lane, 1881.— The Dessoug, 1881.— A Hydraulic 
Ship, 1881.— A Novel Steam Yacht, 1881.— The Kittatinny, 1881.— Steamboat 
Disaster, 1881.— The Pall Eiver Line, 1882.— A West India Steamship Enter- 
prise, 1882. — The Colossus, 1882. — Recent Novel Inventions and Experi- 
ments. — Morse's tJnsinkable Ship. — Lundborg's Twin-Screws. — Root's Side- 
Screw Steamship. — Coppin's Triple Steamship. — Pryer's Buoyant Propeller. — 
Eosse's Catamaran Steam Tugs. 

1858. — The ^^ Great Eastern." — Experience had shown that a 
sea steamer of eighteen hundred tons, making the quickest passages to 
and from England and Australia, with a full cargo and complement 
of passengers, lost by the voyage from one thousand to ten thousand 
pounds. A great portion of the expense was from the necessity of 
supplying coal depots at different points where the steamer could touch 
during her voyage. These deviations from the shortest route also pro- 
tracted the passage so that clipper-ships made as quick passages as 
steamers, at less expense, so that they superseded steamers. The prob- 
lem then to be solved was : Supposing a steamer could be built to 
move eighteen miles an hour, what must be the size of a steamer to 
carry out and back fuel for a voyage from England to Australia, — 
twenty-five thousand miles? To work a steamer profitably, it was 
found that the tonnage must be nearly a ton to a mile. Mr. Brunei, 
therefore, conceived the idea of constructing a steamer of from twenty 
to twenty-five thousand tons burden, capable of carrying coal for full 
steaming on the longest voyage, to be built on the tubular plan, with 

221 



222 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

both the screw and the paddle, and fitted also with sail for propelling 
power. 

The Eastern Steam Navigation Company was formed to carry out 
his idea, with a capital of one million two hundred thousand pounds, 
in shares of twenty pounds each, with power to increase the capital to 
two million pounds. The place where the great ship was to be built, 
on the bank of the Thames at Millwall, consisting of a layer of mud 
thirty feet thick on a bed of gravel, was prepared by driving over 
fourteen hundred piles in lines parallel to the river, as the vessel was 
to be launched sideways. The first plate of the vessel was laid May 1, 
1854. . 

The ship was built with an inner and an outer skin, — two feet ten 
inches apart, with longitudinal webs at intervals of six feet running 
the whole length of the vessel ; and these were subdivided by trans- 
verse plates into water-tight spaces of about six feet square, so that 
should the outer skin be damaged the water could only get in between 
the webs and inner skin. The ship is divided by transverse bulkheads 
into twelve water-tight compartments below the lower deck, and nine 
above the lower deck, so that should both the outer and inner skin be 
fractured the water could only enter one of these compartments, — two 
of which could be filled without danger to the' safety of the vessel. 
Besides these transverse bulkheads, there are two which extend from 
the bottom of the ship to the upper deck, and run longitudinally for a 
length of three hundred and fifty feet. There are also two tubular 
iron platforms extending from the gunwale to the longitudinal bulk- 
heads, running fore and aft, thirty-six feet apart, and connected together 
about every sixty feet by iron platforms seven feet wide. The greatest 
care was taken to make the bow strong enough to withstand any im- 
pediment, and to enable the vessel to resist the constant vibration of 
the screw. 

The vessel has no keel, the bottom being flat. A keel-plate was 
first laid along a level platform prepared for it about five feet from the 
ground ; then the centre-web, which somewhat resembles the keel of an 
ordinary ship. 

The iron plates of which the skins of the vessel are composed are 
three-quarters of an inch thick, except the keel-plate, which is one inch 
thick. Their average size is about ten feet by two feet nine inches, 
and their weight eight hundred and twenty-five pounds. For the 
stern-post and keel some enormous plates were required. Two were 
twenty-seven feet long, three feet three inches wide, one and one-quarter 
inches thick, and weighed two tons each ; others were twenty-five feet 
long, four feet wide, and one and one-quarter inches thick, and weighed 
two and one-quarter tons each. About thirty thousand plates, of an 
average weight of six hundred pounds each, were used in the con- 
struction of the hull. Each plate, before being placed in its proper 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 223 

position^ was a separate study to the engineer. For each a model in 
wood was made, and by steam-shears the plates were cut according to 
the pattern ; the proper curve was given to it, and the holes for the 
rivets were punched by machinery. They were riveted together by 
rivetSj fastened at a white heat, some seven-eighths of an inch and some 
three-quarters of an inch in diameter, about two and a half inches 
apart where the plates were to be made water-tight, and from four to 
six inches apart in other places. The total number of rivets were not 
far from two million. About eight thousand tons of iron were used in 
her hull. The estimated weight of the whole vessel when voyaging 
with every article and person on board was twenty-five thousand 
tons. 

For the purpose of launching the vessel two ways were constructed, 
with pile foundations, one at the fore part of the vessel and one at the 
after part, each three hundred feet long and one hundred and twenty 
feet wide, with about one hundred and twenty feet of space between 
them. The cradles, two in number, were of the same width as the 
ways. Their bottom was composed of iron plates seven inches wide 
and one inch thick, placed at intervals of one foot apart, with their 
edges carefully rounded off so as to offer the least resistance to the 
railway metals of the ways down which they would pass. 

The first attempt to launch the vessel was made November 3, 1857, 
and the vessel was moved six feet down in her ways. Several unsuc- 
cessful attempts were made on different days, until January 31, 1858, 
when she was afloat. The cost of building and launching the vessel in 
round numbers was seven hundred and thirty thousand pounds, ex- 
ceeding the original estimate by two hundred and thirty thousand 
pounds. In November, 1858, the Eastern Steam Navigation Company, 
finding it impossible to go on, was dissolved, and a new corporation, 
called '' The Great Ship Company,'^ was formed, with a capital of three 
hundred and thirty thousand pounds. Of this capital one hundred 
and sixty thousand pounds was to be paid to share-holders of the 
former corporation; the fitting and finishing would cost about one 
hundred and twenty thousand pounds, so that it was estimated fifty 
thousand pounds would be left for working expenses. 

The '^ Great Eastern" was christened by Miss Hope, now Duchess 
of Newcastle, daughter of the chairman of the Great Eastern Steam 
Navigation Company.^ 

1 W. S. Lindsay, in his " History of Merchant Shipping," says, in the summer 
of 1857, accompanied by Kobert Stephenson and Brunei he visited the " Great 
Eastern." Preparations for her launching had commenced. After his inspecting 
the vessel, Brunei asked him what he thought of her. He replied, she was the 
strongest and best built ship he had ever seen and a marvelous piece of mechanism. 
" Oh," he said, rather testily and abruptly, " I did not want your opinion about her 
build. I should think I know rather more how an iron ship should be built than 
you do. Honj will she pay ?" 



224 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



SUMMAEY OF STATISTICS OF THE " GEEAT EASTERN.' 



Length of upper deck 
Length between per 

pendiculars . . 
Breadth across paddle 

boxes 

Breadth of hull . . 
Depth from deck to keel 
Number of decks . 
Number of masts . 

Diameter of masts 

Quantity of canvas 

under full sail . 
Number of anchors . 
Number of boats . . 
Tonnage (old measure 

ment) ..... 
Storage for cargo , . 
Capacity of coal-bun 

kers 

Draught of water, un 

laden 

Draught of water 

laden 

Number of water-tight 
, compartments 



692 feet. 

680 " 

118 " 
88 " 
58 " 
4 
6 
J 2 ft. 9 in. to 
\3 " 6 " 



6500 sq. 
10 
20 



6000 



yards. 



12,000 



15 ft. 6 in. 



30 feet. 



12 



Paddle- Wheels. 

Diameter of paddle- 
wheels 56 feet. 

Weight of paddle- 
wheels 185 tons. 

Length of floats ... 13 feet. 

Width of " ... 3 " 

Number of floats to 

each wheel ... 30 

Length of paddle-shafts 38 feet. 

Weight of " 30 tons. 

Length of intermediate 

cranked shaft . . 21 J feet. 

Weight of intermediate 

cranked shaft . . 31 tons. 



Paddle- Engines. 
Nominal horse-power . 1000 
Number of cylinders , 4 

Diameter of " . 6 

Weight of cylinders, 
including piston 
and rod ..... 
Length of stroke . . . 
Strokes per minute . . 



ft. 2 in. 



38 tons. 
14 feet. 
14 



Paddle-Engine Boilers. 



Number of boilers . . 


4 


Furnaces to each . . . 


10 


Length of boilers . . . 


17 ft. 6 in. 


Width of " ... 


17 u 9 u 


Height of " . . . 


13 «* 9 »' 


Weight of each . . . 


50 tons. 


Weight of water . . . 


40 " 


Area of heating surface 


4800 sq. feet. 


Number of tubes . , . 


400 


Thickness of plates . . 


1 and j\ in 



Screw Propeller. 

Diameter of screw . . 24 feet. 
Pitch of screw .... 37 " 
Number of fans ... 4 
Weight of screw ... 36 tons. 
Length of propeller- 
shaft 160 feet. 



Screw Engines. 

Nominal horse-power . 1600 

Number of cylinders . 4 

Diameter of each cylin- 
der 84 inches. 

Length of stroke ... 4 feet. 

Number of revolutions 

per minute .... 50 



If 



"Ah," replied Mr. L., "that's quite a difieront matter." 

Seeing Mr. L. did not care to answer his question, he repeated it, adding, 
she belonged to you, in what trade would you place her?" 

" Turn her into a show," said Mr. L., with a laugh, " something attractive to 
the masses. She will never pay as a ship. Send her to Brighton, dig a hole in the 
beach, and bed her stern in it, and if well set she will make a substantial joier, and 
her decks a splendid promenade. Her hold would make magnificent salt-water 
baths, and her 'tween decks a grand hotel, with restaurant, smoking and dancing 
saloons, etc. She would be a marvelous attraction for the cockneys, who would 
flock to her by thousands. Candidly, this is my opinion, for I really don't know 
of any other trade at present in which she will be likely to pay so well." 

Stephenson laughed, but Brunei was offended. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



225 



Screw Boilers. 

Number of boilers . . 6 

Funnels to each boiler 12 

Length of boiler ... 18 ft. 6 in. 

Width of " ... 17 " 6 in. 

Height of " ... 14 feet. 

"Weight of " ... 57 tons. 

Weight of water ... 45 " 

Area of heating surface 5000 sq. feet. 

Number of tubes . . . 420 

Thickness of plates . . -^-^ and J in. 

Number of auxiliary 

engines 4 

Number of donkey- 
engines 10 

Total horse-power, 

about 12,000 



Passenger Accommodation. 
Number of passengers 

(first-class) ... 800 
Number of passengers 

(second-class) . . 2000 
Number of passengers 

(third-class) ... 1200 
Aggregate length of 

saloons and berths 350 feet. 

Number of saloons . . 10 
Length of principal 

saloon 100 feet. 

Width . '.' 36 " 

Height 13 " 

Length of berths ... 14 " 

Width of " ... 7 to 8 ft. 

Height of " ... 7 ft. 4 in. 



Nothing can stand comparison with this great steamship except 
Noah's ark, and even Noah's ark could not match it. The length of 
the ark was three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height 
thirty cubits. The Scripture " cubit,'' as stated by Sir Isaac Newton, 
is twenty inches and about sixty-two hundredths. Bishop Wilkins 
makes it somewhat more, — namely, twenty-one inches and about sixty- 
eight hundredths. Reducing these to English feet, and calculating the 
tonnage after the old law, we have approximately the following table : 



Noah's Ark according 
to Sir Isaac Newton. 
Length between perpendiculars . . . 515.62 

Breadth 85.94 

Depth 51.56 

Keel or length for tonnage 464.08 

Tonnage according to old law .... 18,282 



oah's Ark according 


Great 


to Bishop Wilkins. 


Eastern. 


547.00 


680.00 


91.16 


83.00 


54.70 


58.00 


492.31 


630.02 


21,762 


28,093 



So Noah's ark is quite overshadowed. Magnitude is not, however, 
the only peculiarity which the " Great Eastern" possesses. No other 
vessel afloat has two sets of engines and two propellers, nor was the 
cellular construction to be found elsewhere in marine architecture. 

To comprehend the immense size of the ship one must go on the 
main deck. From that stand-point every foot of the deck is seen ex- 
cept the very shadow of the masts and chimneys. The wave of the 
hand can be seen by the steersman or any officer on watch on any part 
of the deck. Go on to the bridge between the paddle-boxes and look 
towards the bow, and you see a space in extent equal to the entire 
length of a very large steamer, — .near two hundred and fifty i^Qt, — and 
then turn your eye towards the stern and you have double the distance 
in that direction, the entire length of the deck being a little short of 
seven hundred feet and the width eighty-four feet. This expanse of 
deck covers about an acre of surface, or one hundred and sixty square 



226 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

rods, stretched out into a long oval one-eighth of a mile, or forty rods, 
in length. The deck of the ship is double, or cellular, after the plan 
of the Britannia tubular bridge, and is formed of two half-inch plates 
at the bottom and two half-inch plates at the top, between which are 
webs which run the whole length of the ship. 

This deck is planned to be of such strength that were it taken up 
by its two extremities and the entire weight the vessel is to carry were 
hung upon its middle, it would sustain the whole unaided. 

The deck is six hundred and ninety-two feet in length, or more than 
as long again as that of the steamship '^ Great Britain." It is nearly 
three times as long as that of the British line-of-battle ship the " Duke of 
Wellington'^ ; eighty-eight feet more would make it as long again as 
the ^' Persia," the longest vessel, previous to the launch of the " Great 
Eastern," afloat upon the ocean. 

'^ This ship," says a writer just after the launch, '^ is one of the 
wonders of this fast age, but whether, like some of the monstrosities 
of past ages, she is to be a mere curiosity and a monument of the folly 
of her builders, or whether she is to introduce a new age of progress 
in steam navigation yet remains to be demonstrated. The first step in 
the solution of the problem is her safe and rapid passage from England 
to America." 

^' Granting, then," said the Liverpool Albion, just previous to her 
launch, '^ that the mammoth ship is merely an extended copy of all 
other iron steamers built on the wave-line principle, let us see what 
are the ^ one or two exceptions,' so modestly alluded to by Mr. Russell 
last week before the British Association of Dublin. The most promi- 
nent in reality, though the feature which escapes unprofessional 
visitors, is the cellular construction of the upper deck and the lower 
part of the hull, up to the water-line, or about thirty feet from the 
bottom, which is as flat as the floor of the room. This system, while 
it gives greater buoyancy to the hull, increases her strength enormously, 
and thus enables her to resist almost any outward pressure. Two walls 
of iron, about sixty feet high, divide her longitudinally into three parts, 
— the inner containing the boilers, the engine-rooms, and the saloons, 
rising one above the other, and the lateral divisions the coal-bunkers ; 
and above them the side-cabins and berths. The sal(5ons are nearly 
sixty feet in length, the principal one nearly half the width of the 
vessel, and lighted by skylights from the upper deck. On either side 
are the cabins and berths, those of the first-class being commodious 
rooms large enough to contain every requirement of the most fastidious 
landsmen. The thickness of the lower deck will prevent any sound 
from the engine-rooms reaching the passengers, and the vibrations from 
being at all felt by them. Each side of the engine-rooms there is a 
tunnel through which the steam and water-pipes are carried, and also 
rails for economizing labor in conveyance of coal. The berths of the 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 227 

crew are forward, below the forecastle, which it is intended to appro- 
priate to the officers. _ 

"Below the berths of the seamen are two enormous cavities for 
cargo, of which five thousand tons can be carried, besides coal enough 
for the voyage to Australia, making about as many tons more. 

" The weight of this huge ship being twelve thousand tons, and 
coal and cargo aboat'eighteetbthousand tons more, the motive-power to 
propel her twenty miles an hour must be proportionate. If the visitor 
walks aft and looks down a deep chasm near the stern, he will perceive 
an enormous metal shaft one hundred and sixty feet ia length and 
weighing sixty tons ; this extends from the engine-room nearest the 
stern to the extremity of the ship, and is destined to move the screw, 
the four fans of which are of proportionate weight and dimensions. 
If next he walks forward and looks over the side, he will see a paddle- 
wheel considerably larger than the circle at Astley's ; and when he 
learns that this wheel and its fellow will be driven by four engines 
having a nominal power of one thousand horses, and the screw by a nom- 
inal power of sixteen hundred horses, he will have no difficulty in con- 
ceiving a voyage to America in seven, and Australia in thirty-five, days. 

'^ The screw-engines, designed and manufactured by Messrs. J. 
Watt & Co., are the largest ever constructed, and when making fifty 
revolutions per minute will exert an effective force of not less than 
eight thousand horses. It is difficult to realize the work which this 
gigantic force would perform if applied to the ordinary operations of 
commerce : it would raise one hundred and thirty-two thousand gallons 
of water to the top of the London Monument in one minute, or drive 
the machinery of forty of the largest cotton-mills in Manchester, giv- 
ing employment to from thirty to forty thousand operatives. 

"There are four cylinders, each of about twenty-five tons, and 
eighty-four inches in diameter. The craiik-shaft, to which the con- 
necting-rods are ai)plied, weighs about thirty tons. The boilers are 
six in number, having seventy-two furnaces, and an absorbent heating 
surface nearly equal in extent to an acre of ground. The total weight 
of the engines exceeds twelve hundred tons, yet they are so contrived 
that they can be set in motion or stopped by a single hand. 

" Sails will not be much needed, for in careering over the Atlantic 
at twenty miles per hour, with a moderate wind, they would rather 
impede than aid ; but in the event of a strong wind arising, going 
twenty-five miles per hour in the course of the vessel, sails may be 
used with advantage. The ^ Great Eastern' is provided, accordingly, 
with seven masts, two square-rigged, the others carrying fore and aft 
sails only. The larger masts are iron tubes, the smaller of wood. The 
funnels, of which there will be five alternating with the masts, are con- 
structed with double castings, and the space between the outer and 
inner casting will be filled with water, which will answer the double 



228 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

purpose of preventing the radiation of heat to the decks and econo- 
mizing coal by causing the water to enter the boiler in a warm state. 
Her rigging will probably cause most disturbance of ideas to nautical 
observers, for, besides the unusual number of masts, she will want two 
most striking features of all other vessels, — namely, bowsprit and 
figure-head. Another peculiarity is the absence of a poop. The cap- 
tain's apartment is placed amidships, immediately below the, bridge, 
whence the electric telegraph will flash the commander's orders to the 
engineer below, helmsman at the wheel, and lookout man at the bows. 
In iron vessels, great precaution being necessary to prevent the compass 
being influenced by the mass of metal in such attractive proximity, 
various experiments have been made with the view of discovering the 
best mode of overcoming this. It was originally intended to locate 
the compass upon a stage forty feet high, but this plan has been aban- 
doned, and a standard compass will be affixed to the mizzenmast at 
an elevation beyond the magnetic influence of the ship. 

"Whatever misgivings there may be as to the length and the 
weight she will carry amidships will be set at rest before she touches 
the water by the mode of her launching, as great a novelty as the ship 
herself. Hitherto the plan has been to build the vessel on an inclined 
plane at right angles with the water ; but in the ^ Great Eastern' this 
was impossible, on account of her great length, to say nothing of the 
expense of building a vessel of her dimensions in a position which 
would elevate her forecastle nearly a hundred feet above the ground. 
These considerations led Mr. Brunei to launch her sideways, with 
which view she has been built parallel with the river. In constructing 
the foundation of the floor upon which it stands provision has been 
made at two points to insure sufficient strength to bear the whole 
weight when completed. On these two points she will rest when 
ready, and thus her strength will be tested in the severest and there- 
fore most satisfactory manner. Two cradles will be introduced at 
these points, and she will then be moved by two hydraulic engines. 
Timber ways areiaid down to low- water mark, with an incline of one 
foot in twelve, and iron rails of peculiar construction are to be laid upon 
these transversely. A tell-tale will indicate the rate at which the two 
ends are descending, and any difference that may occur will be imme- 
diately rectified by strong check-tackles. It is calculated that she will 
advance twelve feet per minute, at which speed her submersion will 
be effected in twenty minutes. The cradles will then be drawn from 
under her, and she will be towed over to the opposite side of the river, 
where she will lie until ready for sea." 

The London Times, after describing the ship, thus discourses, — 
" With these principal figures gone through, let us imagine the 
^ Great Eastern' afloat and on her voyage to Bombay or Melbourne, 
with her ordinary complement of passengers on board. The first idea 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION, 229 

that strikes us is the multitude on board. It will, in fact, be a town 
afloat, and more than a town of four thousand population, because it 
will be a floating town of four thousand grown-up persons, with com- 
paratively few exceptions, each of them being an * individual,' — by 
which we mean a human being of size to command notice, and having, 
to appearance, a mind and will of his own, with a formed air, tone, 
and manner peculiar to himself. In this sense even young ladies are 
individuals. All this crowd of individuals will be collected within 
the dimensions of seven hundred feet by sixty. What a new shape of 
human society ! Take the eight hundred first-class passengers by 
themselves, and what room does even this number afford for the for- 
mation of all kinds of different circles and sets, which will know 
nothing of each other, one man only knowing another by sight, and 
hardly that ! How many immeasurable social charms will be col- 
lected within a few hundred feet ! How many Mr. Smiths will there 
be who will not speak to Mr. Jones during the whole voyage because 
he is not in the same set ! How many Mr. Joneses will pay back 
Mr. Smith in the same coin ! Between how many *nice' young ladies 
and * proper' young gentlemen will there not be a great gulf fixed, 
because in the eyes of anxious mothers the said young gentlemen are 
not desirable persons, but mere penniless bipeds ! What flirtations 
will there not be behind boats, what rivalries, and, if many Americans 
voyage by the ^ Great Eastern,' what duelings may we not expect on 
that ample deck ! In short, what an epitome or camera obscura of the 
world will the ^ Great Eastern' present ! It will be worth any aspiring 
novelist's while to take his berth to Australia or India and back again 
simply for the great convenience of having so much human nature 
brought before him within so small a compass. It will be the moun- 
tain brought to Mahomet, the world condensing itself before his eyes 
for the sake of being observed and examined ; the rapid succession of 
faces will bewilder him at first, but individuality will come out in 
time, though he must be sharp about his work, otherwise the ' Great 
Eastern' will have stopped her screw and paddles before he has got 
any results. If his material is enlarged his time is much curtailed on 
the new system. Farewell to long voyages ^ith their appropriate 
quarrels and matches, their love-makings, reconciliations, and irrevo- 
cable unions; voyage-life has entered on another phase. For what 
is a month ? It is gone before we begin to think about its going. 
How will the old voyagers look back to the romantic days when a 
roomful of persons were their own company for four months, gradually 
forming enemies or friendships, when attachments rose up among 
* young people' unconsciously, and by the mere passive influence of the 
scene ! We are growing a busier nation every year, and cannot afford 
time for more than one chapter of this sea romance." 

After hopes deferred, and delays almost innumerable, the mammoth 



230 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

steamship " Great Eastern'^ made a highly successful trip across the 
Atlantic, and moored at the dock prepared for her in New York. 

The event marks an era in the history of steam navigation. That 
a vessel so monstrous in its proportions- — by the side of which the first 
steamer of Fulton would be but a cock-boat — should have been pro- 
pelled across the ocean by the power of steam alone shows what strides 
have been made since 1818, when the "Savannah'^ first ventured to 
cross the Atlantic, steaming when the wind was not fair, and sailing 
with favoring gales. 

The " Great Eastern'^ differs from all ships which have been built 
before it in three respects, the chief of which is her excessive mag- 
nitude. Nothing like it ever before floated. We have given the 
figures of her huge dimensions, but these naked numerals convey only 
a vague idea. 

The steamships in the English and American navies hardly equal 
half her length or breadth, and yet the " Himalaya" the " Persia," the 
" Adriatic,'^ and the " Niagara" were previously regarded as absolute 
prodigies in marine architecture. 

The ^* Great Eastern" had thirty-eight passengers and eight guests 
on her first voyage to the United States. There names were : Miss 
Herburt, Mr. and Mrs. Gooch, Mr. and Mrs. Stainthorp, General 
Watkins, Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison, Captain Morris, R.N., Captain 
McKennan, R.N., Major Balfour, Captain Drummond, Captain 
Carnagee,^ E.N., Rev. Mr. Southey, Mr. i\. Woods, correspondent 
London Times; Mr. J. S. Oakford, London agent Yanderbilt Line; 
Mr. Murphy, New York pilot; Mr. Russell, Zerah Col burn, Mr. 
Holly, correspondent New York Times; H. M. Wells, Mr. McKenzie, 
G. S. Roebuck, Mr. Skinner, D. Kinnedy, G. E. M. Taylor, G. D. 
Brooks, Mr. Taylor, T. Harnley, H. Marin, Mr. Cave, A. Zuravelloff, 
Mr. Merrifield, Mr. Field, Mr. Barber, R. Marsan, G. Hawkins, H. 
Cangtan, W. T. Stimpson, Mr. Beresford, Mr. Hubbard, George Wilkes. 

The following is the official report of the run of the " Great 
Eastern," on her first voyage to New York : 



June 18, 


latitud 


9 49° 27^ 


longitude 8° 45^ ; 


run since yesterday 


,285 miles 




19, 






48° 41^ 




16° 12^; 




296 " 




20, 






47° 40^ 




27° 54^ ; 




276 " 




21, 






46° 16^ 




30° 03^ ; 




304 " 




22, 






44° 50^ 




56° 22^ ; 




280 " 




23, 
24, 






42° 50^ 
41° OF, 




42° 40^ ; 

48° 52^ ; 




302 " 

299 ," 




25, 






40° 58^ 




56° 10^; 




325 " 




26, 






40° 58^ 




63° 4K; 




333 " 




27, 
28, 






40° 13^ 
40° 28^ 




68° 56^ ; 
74° OU^ ; 




254 " 

234 " 




Total 












3188 " 



1 Captain Carnagee and Mr. Gooch were directors in the Great Ship Company, 
and Mr. Kussell was a son of J. Scott Russell, architect of the ship. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 231 

The greatest speed attained during the passage was 14 J knots an 
hour, and she consumed 2877 tons of coal. 

The New York Herald gave an account of the trip, from which we 
extract a few passages : 

'^ The Start. — The ' Great Eastern' was advertised to sail on Sat- 
urday, the 16th of June. Workmen were engaged on her up to five 
o'clock in the afternoon of that day, and. before they could be disem- 
barked the weather, which had been stormy since noon, became thick 
and hazy, so that it was felt by the pilot it would be dangerous to take 
so large a vessel through the intricate channel of the Solent in the un- 
certain light of the evening. She lay, therefore, in Southampton water 
till Sunday morning, when about 7 a.m. orders were given to un- 
shackle the mooring-chains. The ponderous character of these cables is 
such that it was forty-five minutes before this could be eifected. 

" The morning was raw and gusty, with the wind blowing down 
the water. The tide had canted the vessel athwart the channel, which 
she appeared to half block up, but on hoisting the fore-staysail she 
slowly paid off and got her head pointed in the direction she was to go. 
Steam was admitted into the cylinders of the paddle-engines about ten 
minutes past eight, and shortly after the order was given, ' Easy ahead 
with the screw,' and the ' Great Eastern' steamed slowly out on her 
first voyage to sea. It has been a remark in all trials, that no motion 
is felt when this ship is under way. It was not until objects on shore 
began to recede that one could realize the fact of this huge ship 
being fairly on her journey. A few minutes steaming brought us 
abreast of Calshot Castle, where the colors were dipped in acknowl- 
edgment of a similar courtesy from the fort. With this exception our 
departure was un greeted. The men on board the few vessels we saw 
had seen so much of the big ship that she excited no emotion in their 
minds, and we passed without a single cheer. The ship rounded the 
bell-buoy and ran into the Solent with the handiness of a yacht. As 
we passed Yarmouth our presence was acknowledged by the lowering 
of the ensign of the Yacht Club-House, a civility returned by the ship. 
In two hours we were abreast of the Needles. At twenty minutes past 
ten o'clock we discharged our Southampton pilot. In a few minutes 
we were again under way, with the screw making twenty-seven and the 
paddles seven and a half revolutions per minute, and ran down channel. 
The ship on starting drew twenty-two feet of water forward and twenty- 
six aft. Her right trim is on an even keel, so that her condition was 
unfavorable to her best performance. She had five thousand five hun- 
dred tons of coal in the bunkers. Being stored principally aft, this 
had something to do with her being down by the stern. The object of 
the trip was not to get any great amount of speed out of the ship, but 
to get the machinery and men in working order. 

'^ The ' Great Eastern' so outrages all received notions of ship and 



232 HI8T0BY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

of sea-life, that when strolling about one of her spacious unoccupied 
lower decks a party of English and American gentlemen are discovered 
in an odd corner engaged in a great international skittle-match, one 
accepts it as a matter of course, and is fully prepared to find a billiard- 
table in full blast in some other unexplored compartment of the vessel. 
It is certainly the first time skittles were played in crossing the At- 
lantic ; but the idea is a good one, as enabling those fond of athletic 
sports to divert the tedium of a sea-passage by first-rate physical exer- 
cise. Several exciting foot-races have come ofi" round our ample deck, 
and the distance to be run in making the complete circuit has been 
found quite sufficient to give the competitors a very decided ^ breathing.' 

^' For those whose tastes do not lie in the direction of gymnastics 
there is a well-selected library of the English classics, which the accommo- 
dations of the saloons enable one to enjoy most luxuriously. Quite an 
interesting feature in our trip has been evening concerts in the ladies' 
saloons. Mr. Macfarlane, the conductor of the ship's band, and an able 
pianist, has added much to the general enjoyment by the excellent 
manner in which the band has rendered a selection of musical duets for 
the piano-forte and the cornet-a-piston. Vocal amateurs among the 
officers and passengers have varied the performance, and Captain Hall 
has shown that to his other accomplishments must be added that of his 
being an excellent musician ; his proficiency on the flute being very 
seldom equaled by amateurs. 

" Thursday, June 28.— Ran under easy steam all night, and at twenty- 
five minutes past seven o'clock (ship's time) this morning reached the 
light-ship at Sandy- Hook, thus making the run, in spite of the long 
route taken, the loss of time by encountering the Gulf Stream, and the 
delay from fogs, in eleven days two hours, including the difference of 
time. The distance run by the ship was three thousand two hundred 
and forty-two miles ; deducting the loss of time by the fog, this gives 
a speed of about thirteen knots, proving that with a clear bottom and 
full pressure of steam she would overrun Brunei's estimate of fourteen 
and a half knots an hour for a long run. 

" The passage being, all things considered, decidedly fine, it was 
still sufficiently checkered to settle the important point of the ^ Great 
Eastern' being the most comfortable passenger-ship in the world, her 
movements in a sea-way being so long, slight, and easy that no incon- 
venience is produced. Sea-sickness may be considered as annihilated 
and the attendant discomfort of a sea-passage reduced to a minimum." 

Mr. George Wilkes, editor of Wilkes^ Spirit of the Times, a passen- 
ger on the "Great Eastern," has furnished a graphic account of his 
trip. The getting on board and the first day of the voyage he makes 
of but little account, but after a night on board he writes as follows : 

" Monday, June 18. — I was awoke this morning by the sun shining brightly 
through my port-hole (I should rather use the plural, for my sumptuous apartment 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 233 

was lit by two), and I rose to enjoy the luxury of dressing in a carpeted space as 
large almost as a room in the St. Nicholas. Before I got up, however, I lay for a 
few minutes to observe the silence and quiet of the vessel. In fact, there seemed to 
be no motion to her at all, and had it not been for the barely perceptible buzz of 
her bow — to which I was very near — as it split the water and passed it humming 
along the vessel's beautiful wave-line, I should not have been able to decide with 
certainty whether she was going on or standing still. Vibration there was none, 
and as for the usual clatter of machinery, which is the distinguishing feature of a 
steamship, it could not be heard at all. Moreover, there was not any of the squeak- 
ing and squealing of timbers and tortured wood-work, which makes up a hideous 
serenade on all other vessels, for our party-walls, our state-room floors and ceilings, 
are of iron, and so ribbed and morticed, and joined stiffly with the hull, that the 
ship, while passing through still water, seems to be one solid tube or beam. In- 
deed, I could not make it certain to my senses that she had not stopped, until, look- 
ing out of my port-hole, I saw the ocean passing by, and our vast mass moving gradu- 
ally through it like a floating castle. When I went on deck I found the air cool 
and bracing, but all there was of wind was caused by our own motion. At eight 
o'clock her paddle-engines gave ten revolutions, and those for the propeller twenty- 
nine, while the log, which was heaved a few minutes afterwards, credited her with 
a rate of ten knots. After timing the stroke of the engines I took a look at the 
rapidly-revolving paddles, and found that their original diameter of fifty six feet, 
which had proved to be too large, had been reduced to fifty feet by reefing or draw- 
ing in the floats, or paddles, three feet on each arm. A large projection of useless 
iron consequently extends beyond the actual wheels to make an unnecessary resist- 
ance to the water, and I am told that the wheel would do better still if the floats 
were reefed in yet farther. 

" I now took my first promenade around the deck, and though well instructed 
in its vast proportions, I could not help wondering, as I went on, to see the space 
unroll before me as it did. Standing at the stern and looking forward, the vessel 
seems almost to terminate amidships, but when you reach that point there appears 
to open up another ship before you. This allusion proceeds from the fact that two 
large life-boats, which had hung outside towards the bow, had been brought in at 
the request of the Board of Trade, and set on blocks in the centre of the ship to 
divide the view. These, however, will be removed as soon as the vessel gets into 
port, and then there will be restored a clean, unobstructed double avenue, through 
which our friend Hiram "Woodrufi" might drive a double team, and go only four 
times round to make a mile. The deck is flush from stem to stern, and its only 
obstructions are the six masts, the five smoke-funnels in between, the raised skylights 
for cabin ventilation, and seven low structures, all of which run in a line with the 
masts and smoke-stacks. The two outermost of these — stem and stern — are sheds 
for the donkey or auxiliary engines ; two are erections for the main cabin entrances ; 
one spacious one in the centre of the quarter-deck is allotted to the captain ; another 
of like character is the double residence of the first and second officers, and another 
still, of tolerable size, is given to the passengers as a smoking-room. These are the 
only obstructions which are found on deck, while around them runs a clean twelve- 
foot promenade, one side of which has been named Broadway and the other Fifth 
Avenue. The floor of the deck, like the hull of the ship, is of iron, and built like 
the sides, on the tubular principle, with twenty-one inches of space between its 
walls, and interlaced and strapped, crossed and recrossed, with welded bars, so as 
to give it not only the buoyancy of a life-preserver, but almost incalculable strength. 
The facing of this floor is pine. Two men are usually placed at each of the wheels, 
so that eight are enabled to steer her ; and four auxiliary wheels can be added, by 
which a force of thirtj'-two men can be brought to bear. Only four, however, are 
now guiding her through the calm, mild weather of the morning. The course is 
given by the first officer, the man next the compass guides the motions of the rest; 
and if the direction of the ship requires a sudden change, an auxiliary compass, 



234 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

or indicator, which receives its impulse from the central bridge, directs them im- 
mediately what to do. But for this device it would be diflBcult to guide the ship 
without great loss of time ; but now orders are communicated from end to end with 
the speed of light, and the leviathan answers to her rudder and points its nose as 
readily as if drawn with a hook, or ' led' by its tongue with a cord. 

" At noon, as the bugle summoned us to lunch, I timed the paddle-piston at ten 
revolutions and the propellor at thirty and a half, and the log at the same time re- 
ported twelve and a half knots. The run of the ship for the last twenty-six hours 
was reported as three hundred miles. Latitude 49° 27^, longitude 8° 45^. When 
we came up from lunch we found that a light breeze had set in upon our larboard 
quarter, and our jib and forward trysails were spread to take advantage of it. The 
wind freshened as the afternoon grew on, and at three o'clock the billows began to 
crispen at their tops and indicate a rising sea. At four o'clock a drizzling rain set 
in, and the still strengthening wind gave promise of a stormy night. Some of us 
had been apprehensive, from the mild manner in which we had set out, that the 
voyage might run through the entire length of its term in the same dull way, and 
thus, while it deprived us of the least possibility of becoming heroes, land us at 
Xew York without any further knowledge of the ship and her sea-going qualities 
than we could have learned by studying her while anchored in the Thames. The 
fear of such disappointment, however, was dispelled by the time we wiped our 
beards from dinner, for on ascending to the deck at six o'clock and taking our posi- 
tion on the elevated grating in her bow, we saw the leviathan, before so dead, so 
apparently inert, and which had been passing through the waters like some spectral 
island, quicken with life and bend with a slow grandeur to the motion of the sea. 
' Thank God, she rolls !' exclaimed an experienced officer on her first trial trip, when 
she was caught in a series of heavy billows off Portland Kace, and it was with 
something like the same ebullition of delight that we saw the mighty ship cast her 
silent disposition off and make her obeisance to the still mightier deep. Her motion 
was a gentle and majestic swing from side to side, the extent of three or four de- 
grees, and now and then when a billow fell away from her bow and a swell at the 
same time would roll underneath her stern she would mildly yield her head, — not 
short and sudden, with a plebeian start, but with a monarch's measured grace, as if 
she felt herself to be the master, and only yielding to the courteous laws of life. It 
was a great treat to see her thus leaning her way from side to side through the 
parting waters, while good-sized ships, which were then in sight, were rolling un- 
easily or pitching from stem to stern. It was like some accomplished swimmer, 
who sweeps forward gracefully hand over hand, compared to a clumsy novice who 
barely manages to keep himself afloat through the rapidity of a short digging 
motion. The ' Great Eastern' was alive ; but mighty as she was, still she was 
amenable to that vast throb and pulsation of the sea which is mightier than the 
mightiest. Nevertheless she proved, by the comparison before us, her superiority 
to all ordinary ships, as well as to any disturbing motion. In fact, her soft undu- 
lations gave actual relief and pleasure to every one who stood upon her deck. And 
all the while this motion was upon her the skittles were played at one of the after- 
holds. Nevertheless, let it be noted here that the theory that ships above a certain 
size will march through the wave superior to the perturbation of the sea is ended 
by our experiment forever. No ship can be made large enough to entirely ignore 
the gigantic pulsation of the ocean. The foresail and fore-topsail were drawing 
well at dark, and the wind, which now struck us almost astern, was whistling 
through our cordage with great noise. 

" A Gale. — Tuesday, January 19, I was awakened a little after midnight by 
the howling of the wind, the shouts of the men taking in sail, and a great tramp- 
ing overhead. The vessel was rolling more than she had at any time before, — say 
about eight or nine degrees, — and I could now feel a little vibration of her bow, 
imparted by the screw as it smote and scudded into the water whenever the motion 
of the vessel lifted its blades above the surface. I went to mv window, but the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 235 

night was too thick for anything but darkness to be seen, and all I could distinctly 
hear was the measured wail of one hundred and twenty men (for both watches had 
been called up) in chorus, to ' haul the bowline, haul,' while engaged in trying to 
take in the mainsail and main-topsail. The wind seemed to soften a little at two 
o'clock, but perhaps that was the notion of my drowsiness, for I fell asleep at that 
hour, while the men were still as busily engaged at the mainsail as ever. I after- 
wards learned that it had employed them five hours to furl it in the furious tempest 
that prevailed. The cause of this difficult}^ was partly owing to the violence of the 
gale acting upon the immense area of the sail, and partly to the unhandy size of 
the tackle by which it must necessarily be worked. Everything is exaggerated in 
the way of size on board the ' Great Eastern,' and to be handled aloft as other ships 
she requires an extra breed of men. The gale subsided a little in its fury at four 
o'clock, but when I arose, at seven, I still found it blowing very hard, and the sea 
covered with a thread-like foam, which filled the hollows as well as whitened on 
the billow tops. Still the ship rolled only eight degrees, and her stately nod did 
not disturb a plate upon the table. The storm-rack was laid at breakfast to protect 
the dishes, but it was not needed, for my full tea-cup sat outside of it without being 
in the slightest peril of a slip. Nevertheless, a three-thousand-ton vessel would 
have been pitching sadly. The motion did not succeed in making a single person 
sea-sick, though there were among her passengers several who had never been to 
sea before. 

" The wind moderated still more during the afternoon, and we set all our top- 
sails, hut the ship kept up her motion, and went frolicking along her path as full 
of life as a clipper-brig or a pilot-boat. Nothing could be more beautiful than to 
stand upon an elevated grating in her bow and see her stern lift itself majestically 
against the sky as we dropped into some yielding wave before us, or to behold her 
rising sideways to her equilibrium, like some frolicking beauty lifting her shoulder 
in her downy bed. I could hardly realize, as I viewed her buoyant step upon the 
deep, that ten thousand plates of iron, representing twelve thousand tons of inert 
metal, clamped by three million rivets, and bearing within, besides her ponderous 
engines, six thousand tons of coal, could career thus, cork-like, upon the bosom of 
the thin and shifting element below. Yet there she rode, ship-like and sweet, ' a 
thing of beauty and a joy forever.' The most striking idea of her size, however, 
and the greatest demand upon your wonder that she swims so lightly, is obtained 
by going down by her sponsons, outside and aft the paddle-boxes, which enables 
you to see her entire towering section abaft the wheel. Erom that point you face 
up and down her massive sides and see the black warehouse, for it looks not like a 
ship, grandly rise and fall in the hissing and downy foam which the wheels send 
flying by her run. This flying foam unites beneath her stern, and is there strewn 
into lace-work by the propeller, and goes seething on its broad path for miles. 1 
think the scene from this lower platform of the gangway gives the finest idea, while 
in motion, of the vast power and grandeur of the ship. The deck and rigging, on 
the other hand, being seen altogether, lose in a little while their command upon 
the wonder, for their great symmetry so wins upon the eye that they mingle 
together in apparently usual degrees. It is only when in comparison with some 
other object that the 'Great Eastern' sensibly exhibits her huge proportions to an 
accustomed eye, and then everything else is dwarfed by her neighborhood. 

" Wednesday, June 27. — Fine weather, with a breeze which kept four of our 
trysails set, continued during the afternoon, but at six o'clock a very heavy fog set 
in, which condensed itself upon the rigging in huge drops that fell upon the deck 
like rain. So dense did this all-pervading mist become that the lookouts could 
scarcely see ten feet from the ship, and our lights could not have been distinguished 
at the distance of a hundred yards ahead ; so out of mercy to the unwary who 
might possibly be in our path, at near reach to shore, we slackened our speed down 
from fifteen to seven and a half knots, and ran at this rate, with frequent warnings 
from our whistle, all night. Under this state of aflfairs it was thought prudent. 



236 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

moreover, that we should make soundings to ascertain with certainty exactly where 
we were, but the effort failed at every attempt, in consequence of the great height 
we were above the water, requiring more line than we could pay out while the 
vessel was in motion. We slowed her down to six knots, then to four, and then to 
two, but still it would not answer, and the order went from the captain that the 
ship must be absolutely stopped. 

" It had been the particular pride of Mr. McLenan, the chief engineer, who is 
a perfect enthusiast in his duty, that the ship's engines, which had been so much 
abused and misrepresented for the last year, should perform what scarcely, if ever, 
had been done before, and that was to make a first Atlantic voyage without a single 
moment's pause from port to port. When, therefore, he heard the order to stop the 
ship, he received it like a man who was smitten with a sentence, and asked with the 
greatest earnestness if we could not get along without. The answer was against 
him, and the lungs of the monster were folded from their respirations, and after ten 
minute's run with silent wheels and blades, and final reversal of her wheels, she 
sat still upon the waters. This event took place at 11.40, but a cast of one hundred 
and fifteen fathoms of line gave us no bottom, and we went on again, at twelve 
o'clock, still, however, continuing only at half speed. At ten minutes to five this 
morning we made another pause to heave the lead again, and this time with a cast 
of sixty-five fathoms we found bottom on George's Bank, and at ten minutes past 
five went on again. The fog having lifted, we now resumed our speed and pro- 
ceeded at our usual rate of thirteen and fourteen knots. During these two pauses 
the engineer rapidly examined such of the screws and nuts as were not accessible 
during the action of the engines, but did not discover one that was out of place or 
that required tightening, — a great proof of the excellence and condition of her 
machinery. 

" Thus ended the first transatlantic voyage of the ' Great Eastern,' and though 
it may be regarded as a failure in the way of speed, it will be perceived there were 
interests at stake which transcended that consideration, and which doubtless justi- 
fied the commander in the unusual care he took to keep the great ship safe. 

" Captain Vine Hall is one of the most experienced navigators of the English 
East India trade, but in addition to the caution which he naturally felt incumbent 
on him from the fact that he had never crossed the Atlantic before, he was doubt- 
less deeply impressed with the paramount importance, not only to his employers 
and the cause of science, but to England and the whole world, of giving a substan- 
tial proof that ships of the size of the * Great Eastern' could safely cross the deep. 
It was therefore properly a matter of secondary consequence to him whether the 
enthusiasm of his passengers or the ardor of his engineers or oflScers should chafe 
at his divergences or extra care ; he accomplished the great point that was required, 
and we who left England with him but ten days before are here to approve his 
action. When he returns to England in September he will give the leviathan its 
head, and she will then prove for herself that speed is one of her attributes as well 
as safety. In fact, she has proved it already by the manner in which she has 
accomplished this voyage, and there is not a passenger who crossed in her but views 
her as beyond all comparison the most superior passenger-ship that ever floated. 
The extra distance which she ran on this trip is certainly equal to more than a 
day's travel, and when we add to this that twenty-four hour's margin is always 
allowed to a new ship's first voyage, and take into consideration also that not an 
oflScer on board ever made a voyage in her, that the men were all raw recruits, 
fresh levied within three days of starting, and that even the stokers did not know 
how to spread coal to advantage on the fires, we cannot help regarding even the 
time she made as a great triumph. As to her comfort and convenience as a pas- 
senger-ship, it is hardly possible to say too much in praise of her. She meets all 
the requirements of the most luxurious hotel, and when the weather drives her 
inhabitants below they can promenade through her cabins upon long walks, or 
lounge about upon superb divans, listening to music that would not discredit the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 237 

most pretentious concert. By lier continued steadiness sea-sickness is entirely- 
ignored, and in the way of strength no iron structure that ever has been made can 
at all compare with her. 

" This was impressed upon us by every sway of the sea, and the idea which she 
continually enforces on the mind, above all others, is her absolute safety from all 
ordinary dangers of the ocean. Against the risks resulting from contact with a 
solid body she is beyond all calculation stronger than anything which has been seen 
afloat. The manner in which her vast weight stood poised upon two single rests in 
the builder's yard for weeks before her launch, and the thundering against her sides 
of the huge battering-rams that smote her inch by inch towards the water, give 
evidence of what she can endure. No shoal or beach could break her before all 
her passengers could escape, for 'her scales are her pride, shut up together as with 
a close seal. They are joined one to another, they stick together that they cannot 
be sundered.' 

" Above all other ships she should be chosen by the timid, and it really is a 
puzzle to me how so many intelligent men who had read the history of her con- 
struction, and who were about crossing to New York at the date of her departure, 
could be induced to choose any other vessel. She is certainly exempt from all the 
ordinary dangers of the sea, and any one who will go into her bow and look at the 
fourteen feet of matted iron in that welded beak will credit her with sufficient power 
and impulse to split and push aside any ordinary iceberg." 

Arrival at New York. — The " Great Eastern" arrived at the 
bar at about seven o'clock on Thursday morning, and as it was known 
she would be detained until high water (two o'clock), ample time was 
afforded to everybody who wished to go down the bay to meet her, or 
to witness her approach to the city. Messrs. Grinnell, Minturn & Co., 
consignees of the ship, with their friends and the press, went down in 
a steamer and came up on board the '^ Great Eastern." The New 
York Times gives the following sketch of the passage of the bar and 
the trip up the bay : 

" About two o'clock the order was given to cast oif the steamer's 
tugs, which lay like two long-boats under her quarters, and Mr. Mur- 
phy, the pilot, with Captain Hall, mounted the starboard wheel-house, 
and the w^ord was passed, ^ Head slow with the paddles.' In another 
moment the enormous wheels were in motion, and the ship began to 
move. Slowly her great prow was turned off shore and headed 
towards the light-ship, for the purpose of getting a good entrance to 
the ship-channel. At 2.30 p.m. both the paddles and screw were in 
rapid motion, the ship heading towards Sandy Hook. The speed of 
the ship was now increased, so that the half-dozen steamboats which 
followed in her wake could with difficulty keep up with her. At 
three o'clock the ship was on the bar, when the paddles were slowed, 
as is the custom in passing that point with all vessels of heavy draught. 
She went over, however, without any difficulty, and the long-dreaded 
bar was safely passed. Full steam was now given to both the screw- 
and paddle-engines, and she made excellent time in coming up with 
and passing the Hook. Here the telegraph station was decked out 
with a profusion of flags, and as ^ they had no guns to fire,' the fog-bell 



238 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

was vigorously tolled, a greeting to the passing steamer. This was 
replied to by cheers from the passengers gathered on the port side, in 
which Captain Hall joined; the ensign was also dipped. Meantime, 
an extempore lunch was prepared below for the newly-arrived guests, 
whom Captain Carnagee welcomed to the ship in a few words, to which 
Mr. Grinnell responded, giving as a sentiment the Press of New York, 
which was acknowleged briefly by Mr. Raymond and Mr. Erastus 
Brooks. 

^'Steering well to the southward to give ample room in which to 
turn the only remaining point of difficulty, — the Southwest Spit, — the 
order was given to slow the paddles to half speed ; the helm was put 
hard a-port, and in less time than it takes to describe the operation she 
made the circuit of the spit with all the ease of a pilot-boat. No 
description could do justice to the scene of animation and enthusiasm 
which now surrounded the steamer as she approached the Narrows. 
Steamers of all sizes and descriptions swarmed about her, crowded with 
ladies and gentlemen cheering and waving their salutations. 

"At a few minutes after 3 p.m. the ' Great Eastern' was dimly dis- 
cerned in the foggy distance of the lower bay. Then she disappeared 
behind the blufip, and an hour passed before, over the walls of the new 
fort, at the distance of four miles, the tall masts of the great ship were 
seen rapidly passing. With an uncontrollable impulse a shout arose 
from the vast crowd on the old quarantine grounds and from Burr's 
Gardens. Opposite Fort Hamilton she stopped, and the fort gave her 
a rousing salute of cannon. When she resumed her ^onward march, 
her triumph o'er the deep,' — which at this point meant the bay of New 
York, that it was said she never could enter, — she in due courtesy 
replied in cannon. As she passed the various landings on the islands 
she was also greeted with gunpowder, and her health and the good 
wishes of the spectators were drunk, not in as much lager beer as would 
float her, but certainly in a great quantity of lager beer. As she 
passed the shore of the island she was admirable in her appearance. 
Though at a distance of more than a mile and a half, with the smoke 
of her cannon mantling about her and partially obscuring her magnifi- 
cent proportions, she announced herself as the leviathan of the bay. 
By the rule of parallax, her size was indeed enormous, for she seemed 
to shut from observation miles of Long Island Heights over and 
below Greenwood and Gowanus. Her- appearance as she passed up the 
bay took everybody by surprise. Not only was no voice of detraction 
heard, but all spectators were almost madly enthusiastic in her praise. 

" The effort to round her to at the foot of Hammond Street was 
unsuccessful, it being necessary to moderate her speed so much that 
steerage- way was lost as soon as the engines were stopped. She ac- 
cordingly swung with her head up-stream, and the efforts of two tugs, 
with hawsers at her bow, could not wind her. After drifting with the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 239 

flood-tide, backing and going ahead for a long time, she was turned 
round, and at about eight o'clock p.m. was snugly got into her berth 
and made fast. 

" There was no lack of admiration for the vast proportions, the 
graceful lines, and the internal arrangements and ornamentation of the 
ship. There was much surprise expressed at the neglected condition of 
the decks, which appeared as if they had neither been cleaned, scraped, 
holystoned, or varnished since she was launched. The planks in many 
places appeared badly shrunken, and suffering for want of wetting 
down. The same was observed of the platforms on both sides of the 
paddle-boxes, and other portions of wood- work of the ship. The 
smoke-pipes look as if they had encountered the storms of a voyage 
from India instead of England, and there is a general dirty appearance of 
the whole outside portion of the ship. It is understood that it will take 
several days to put her in condition to receive the visits of the public." ^ 

1858, — On the Emperor of Russia's birthday, September 21, 1857, 
the stern-post of the "General Admiral" was laid in Wm. H. Webb's 
ship-yard, New York, in the presence of the Russian Minister and 

^ The Hon. John McLeod Murphy, once an officer of the United States navy, 
in a lecture on "American Ships and Ship-Builders," delivered at Clinton Hall, 
New York, December 29, 1859, took occasion to say, — 

" I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I hazard little in expressing 
the conviction that a monster ship, far exceeding the ' Great Eastern' in model and 
build, will yet he launched in this country ; but her keel will not be laid until it is 
clearly demonstrated that she can be made to pay. Perhaps in the calm waters of 
the Pacific, when our trade shall have been fairly opened with Japan, the vessel 
that shall bring her enchanting fabrics and people will outstrip in magnitude and 
strength and speed the gigantic form of that which was conceived in the feverish 
brain of Brunei." 

When they examined the hull of the " Great Eastern," in 1875, they found 
62,000 square feet of iron plate incrusted with mussels, in some places to the thick- 
ness of six inches. The total weight of these incumbrances was estimated at 300 
tons, enough to load two brigs or thirty freight cars. 

The Manchester (England) Examiner reported in 1880 that the " Great Eastern" 
would be sold by auction soon, unless previously disposed of by private treaty. 
The step proposed was foreshadowed in the last report of the directors of the com- 
pany, as will be gathered from the following paragraph: "During the past year 
several proposals for the employment of the ship have been made, but have fallen 
through from some cause or other ; the directors are, however, using their best 
exertions to attain that object, which now becomes imperative, as the funds available 
for the maintenance of the ship are approaching exhaustion, and under these cir- 
cumstances the directors feel it desirable to take powers from the shareholders to 
dispose of the ship in case no favorable proposal for chartering her should be re- 
ceived." The balance to the debt of profit and loss account at the close of the last 
year was eight thousand four hundred and thirty-one pounds. Considerable ex- 
penditure was made on the vessel last year, when she had new upper decks and part 
new masts. It may be stated that the capital of the company is one hundred 
thousand pounds, and that she stood in the books at the close of 1880 at eighty-six 
thousand seven hundred and fifteen pounds. She has been employed in various 
ways, but perhaps in none more successfully than the laying of the Atlantic cable. 
She is stated now to be in excellent condition. 



240 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

many invited guests, the event being further celebrated by a prayer in 
the Russian language and a banquet at the Clarendon Hotel. A silver 
plate was placed in a mortice in the keel inscribed in Russian, " The 
70-gun ship " General AdmiraV^ was begun in the presence of the 
Baron de Stoechel, Russian Minister at Washington, September 21, 1867, 
at New York, after the plans of Wm. H. Webb, American ship-builder.^^ 
The mortice was then closed, and the first copper bolt driven into the 
ship, every guest present giving a blow. 

Precisely one year afterwards, on the birthday of the Grand Duke 
Constantine, after whom she was named, the " General AdmiraP' was 
launched with great eclat. Her cost was about $1,125,000. On her 
trip to Europe she made the voyage to Cherbourg in eleven days and 
ten hours, part of the time under canvas alone, with her propeller 
lifted clear of the water, her average speed being twelve knots an 
hour. In acknowledgment of her success the Emperor of Russia 
presented Mr. Webb with a gold snuff-box enriched with diamonds, 
and the British government immediately built two vessels after the 
same general design and model, which, however, never equaled her in 
speed. 

She was 325 feet long, 55 feet wide, and 34 feet deep, and had two 
horizontal engines of 800 horse-power. A board of United States 
navy officers, consisting of Commodore (afterwards Rear- Admiral) A. 
H. Foote, Chief-Engineer W. E. Everett, and Naval Constructors S. M. 
Pook and B. F. Delano, reported to the Secretary of the Navy " that 
the workmanship and disposition of materials was excellent, and fully 
equal those of any vessel constructed by our government, and in regard 
to location of beams relatively to the parts she is superior, from the 
fact of the armament having been determined before building the 
vessel.'' 

1858. — Thomas Rainey in his book entitled " Ocean Steam Navi- 
gation of the Ocean Post,'^ says, " In offering to the government and 
public his volume he is conscious of his inability to present any new 
views, but there is no work in any country which treats of marine 
steam navigation in its commercial, political, economical, social, and 
diplomatic bearings, or discusses the theory and practice of navigation 
so as to develop the costs and difficulties attending high speed on the 
ocean or of the large expenses incurred in making regular and reliable 
statements." 

1859. — Steaming on the Amoor. — Steam navigation was intro- 
duced upon the Amoor River, China, in 1859, by private means. The 
first steam vessel, called the '^Admiral Kozawitch," was launched 
upon the waters of that river in the summer of that year. She was 
built in the United States, brought over in pieces, and put together at 
Nicolajefsk. She was constructed of timber, and had one paddle- 
wheel, and that astern. On her first trip she went up the river to the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 241 

confluence of the Shika, and returned to Nicolajefsk. She then went 
up the river as far as the thriving town of Michael Semenofsky, at the 
mouth of the Soongari^ and finally to Niauchoorsky, near Algoon, 
where she remained for the winter. 

1858. — Steamers ox the Yang-tse-Kiang. — In 1858, it being 
questioned how far the Yang-tse-Kiang was navigable, a British 
squadron, composed of the " Retribution," Captain Barker, senior offi- 
cer commanding ; the ^^ Furious," Captain Sherard Osborn (on board 
of which were Lord Elgin and staff); the "Cruiser," Commander 
Bythesea ; the " Dove," gunboat, Commander Ward ; and '^ Lee," gun- 
boat. Lieutenant Jones, steamed up the river towards Hankow. The 
'^ Retribution" grounded and did not reach that port, but all the others 
did, and were the first foreign vessels to penetrate so far into the inte- 
rior of China, a service which Lord Elgin availed himself of to insist 
that Hankow should be opened to foreign commerce. The expedition 
left Shanghai November 9, 1858, and returned January 1, 1859. 

I860. — In February, 1860, the Yang-tse was for the first time 
opened by treaty to the ships of other nations, and the '' Scotland," 
commanded by Captain A. D. Dundas, R.N., and belonging to W. S. 
Lindsay,^ an auxiliary screw steamship of eleven hundred tons gross 
register, was the first foreign merchant vessel which loaded a cargo 
from Shanghai to Hankow, bringing back teas for transshipment to 
Europe and America; but it was not until 1863 that any English ves- 
sel loaded a cargo direct from Hankow for Great Britain. The " Scot- 
land'^ sailed from Shanghai with a full cargo for Hankow in June, 
1860. She drew seventeen feet of water. Two light-draught trading 
steamers preceded her ; one an American boat, and the other a Russian 
vessel from the Amoor. On the 8th of May, 1860, the auxiliary 
steamship "Robert Lowe," of twelve hundred and fifty tons, left 
Shanghai for Hankow for the purpose of loading a cargo of teas direct 
for London. Two other vessels, however, had preceded her. The en- 
gines of the " Robert Lowe" were only eighty nominal horse-power, and 
her passage between Shanghai and Hankow, a distance of six hundred 
and eight miles, occupied ten days. One day was lost in changing her 
propeller, which she had to anchor every night. The current averaged 
three knots, and at times was fully five knots an hour against her. 
The cargo of the " Robert Lowe," for Hankow and London, consisted 
of nine thousand five hundred and sixty-eight chests, two hundred and 
thirty-four half-chests, and two thousand and fifty-four boxes of black 
teas; five hundred and thirty-five bales of cotton and sundries; and 
her freights amounted to ten thousand three hundred and fifteen 
pounds, and four hundred and eighty pounds passage money. 

Owing to the repudiation by the Chinese of the treaty of Tientsin, 
the defeat of the British forces at the Peiho and the subsequent war 
1 Author of " Merchant Shipping." See p. 467. 
18 



242 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



measures which resulted in a new treaty, the formal opening of the 
Chinese ports was deferred until the spring of 1861. 

The first merchant steamer that anchored at Hankow after Lord 
Elgin's treaty was the " St. Theodosius/' under a German flag ; the 
second, the " Fire-Dart," an American side-wheel steamer belonging to 
Heard & Co. ; the third was the British steamer ^' Governor-General/' 
all within a few days of each other. 

The ^^ Fire-Dart's'^ imagined they were the first until they found 
the Germans had stolen a march upon them. Her trip was a most in- 
teresting one and had some of the excitement of ^n exploring expedi- 
tion. They had no charts except some tracings obtained by Mr. John 
Heard from one of the officers of Lord Elgin's expedition. They 
touched at a great many places, and were absent from Shanghai from 
April 16 to May 14, 1861. The rebel forces occupied some two hun- 
dred and fifty miles of the river, and the '^ Fire-Dart" had several 
adventures with them. 

1863-6J/.. — There were nine steamers loading between Hankow and 
Shanghai, — five British and four American, — some having a capacity 
for two thousand tons of tea, and all vessels of great speed, making 
the passage to Hankow in four days, and returning under favorable 
circumstances in less than half that time. 

1873. — The " Hankow," and three other paddle-wheel steamers of 
a similar class, were built at Glasgow expressly for the navigation of 
the Yang-tse. The " Pekin," " Shanghai," and " Ichang" were fin- 
ished in 1873, and the '^Hankow" in April, 1874. Their dimensions 
were as follows : 



Dimensions. 



Pekin and 
Shanghai. 



Ichang. 



Hankow. 



Gross tonnage 

Length on load water-line 

Breadth moulded 

Depth 

Load Draught 

Dead weight capacity 

Measurement capacity in tons of 40 feet . . . 

Passenger accommodations, European . . . 
" " Chinese, 1st class 

" " '• 2d class 

Speed on trial 

Diameter of cylinder . 

stroke 

Indicated horse-power 

Pressure of steam . 

Consumption of fuel at full power per hour 



3076 
292 feet 
42 " 

15 " 
10 " 

664 tons 
3668 " 
14 " 

16 " 
164 " 

13 knots 
68 inches 
12 feet 
1450 
27 Ihs. 
27 cwt. 



1681 

242 feet 
36 

121^ " 
9 
460 tons 
1972 " 
10 " 
6 " 
166 " 
12 knots 
62 inches 
10 feet 
1200 
33 lbs. 
27 cwt. 



3168 

308 feet 

42 " 

16 " 

11 " 
840 tons 
3800 " 

14 " 

18 '• 
170 " 

12^ knots 

72 inches 

14 feet 
1840 

35 lbs. 

40 cwt. 



Steamers of the above type in 1876 left Hankow and Shanghai 
daily, one dispatched by Russell &, Co., an American company, the 
other by Butterfield & Swine, an English firm. 

1877.— On the 15th of March, 1877, the United States steamer 
"Monocacy," Commander Joseph P. Fyffe, steamed from Hankow to 
Ichang, three hundred and fifty miles above Hankow and one thou- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 243 

sand miles from the sea. April 5 the formal opening of Ichang took 
place, and the American flag was hoisted over the newlv-established 
consulate, being the first foreign ensign raised thus far in the interior 
of China, and the "Mouocacy'^ the first foreign vessel to reach 
Ichang. 

1861. — Steamees in Japan. — In 1861 the Prince of Satsuma 
purchased the '^ England'^ and the ^'Scotland/' two British screw 
steamships of eleven hundred tons gross register, being the first foreign 
vessels purchased by the Japanese, except by the government. As evi- 
dence of the skill and ingenuity of the Japanese, they made boilers of 
copper for the '' England'^ within twelve months of th6 time when she 
(aine into their possession. The '^ England'^ was seized and scuttled 
in August, 1863, by the English at the bombardment of Kagosima, 
and sunk in deep water. The '^ Scotland^^ was still in the service of 
the Japanese in 1870. 

The first steamer owned by the Japanese was the " Emperor,'^ a 
yacht presented them by Lord Elgin on making his commercial treaty 
in 1858-59. Since then the Japanese have become owners of steamers 
with astonishing rapidity. 

1861.— Tuf. " Monitor.''— a resolution of the United States 
Senate, July 24, 1868, requested the Secretary of the Navy to com- 
municate to that body the facts concerning the construction of the 
ironclad " Monitor.'' In answer. Secretary Welles made an elaborate 
report^ detailing the history of her construction, together with that of 
two other ironclads, — the " New Ironsides" and the " Galena," con- 
structed differently, as recommended by a board of navy officers Sep- 
tember 16, 1861, composed of Commodores Joseph Smith and Hiram 
Paulding and Commander Charles Henry Davis. 

The Secretary visited Connecticut in September, and while at 
Hartford, C. S. Bushnell, Esq., brought him the plan of the original 
^'Monitor," invented by Captain John Ericsson, of New York. It 
received the instant appro v^al of the Secretary, who requested Mr. 
Bushnell to proceed to Washington without delay and submit it to the 
board. He was assured that in case of unavoidable delay beyond the 
time limited for receiving proposals, an exception should be made in 
favor of this novel invention of a submerged vessel with a revolving 
turret, and that it should be embraced among the plans on which the 
opinion of the board would be required. 

The board of officers in their report say, with regard to Mr. Erics- 
son's proposition, — 

" This plan of a floating battery is novel, but seems based on a 

plan which will render the battery shot- and shell-proof. W"e are 

apprehensive that her properties for sea are not such as a sea-going 

vessel should possess. But she may be moved from one place to an- 

1 Executive Document, No. 86, Fortieth Congress, second session. 



244' HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

other on the coast in smooth water. We recommend an experiment 
be made with one battery of this description on the terms proposed, 
with a guarantee and forfeiture in case of failure in any of the proper- 
ties and points of the vessel as proposed. Price, $275,000; length of 
vessel, 172 feet; breadth of beam, 41 feet; depth of hold, llj^ feet; 
time, 100 days; draught of water, 10 feet; displacement, 1255 tons; 
speed per hour, 9 statute miles." 

In accord with this recommendation, on the 4th of October, 1861, 
John Ericsson, John F. Winslow, John A. Griswold, and C. S. Bush- 
nell contracted with Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, on 
behalf of the United States, to build the original " Monitor," as she 
was later named by her inventor, and to have her and her equipments 
in all respects ready for sea in one hundred days after the date of the 
contract. The agreement was ''to construct an ironclad, shot-proof 
steam battery of iron and wood combined on Ericsson's plan ; the 
lower vessel to be wholly of iron, and the upper vessel of wood ; the 
length, one hundred and seventy-nine feet ; breadth, forty-one feet ; 
depth, five feet, or larger if the contractors thought it requisite to 
carry the armament and stores required." Masts, spars, sails, and 
rigging were to be furnished sufficient to drive the vessel six knots an 
hour with fair breeze of wind ; steam-power was to be supplied to give 
her a speed of eight knots, and she was to carry provisions, water, and 
stores of all kinds for one hundred persons for ninety days, and fuel 
for her engines for eight days ; the deck, when loaded, was to be 
eighteen inches above the load-line amidships. It was also expressly 
stipulated that no member of Congress or officer of the navy, or any 
person holding office under government, should share in the contract 
or in any benefits arising from it, — a wise provision. 

The payments made to the contractors, as per agreement, the last 
being only five days before the " Monitor" sailed from New York, 
were as follows : 

1861, November 15, first payment, 150,000, less 25 per cent |37,500 

" December 3, second payment, $50,000, less 25 per cent 37,500 

" December 17, third payment, $50,000, less 25 per cent. ...... 37,500 

1862, January 3, fourth payment, $50,000, less 25 per cent 37,500 

" February 6, fifth payment, $50,000, less 25 per cent 37,500 

" March 3, sixth payment, $25,000, less 25 per cent 18,750 

" March 14, last payment, reservations 68,750 

Total $275,000 

By the terms of the contract the reservations were to be retained 
until the points and properties of the vessel were fully tested, not ex- 
ceeding ninety days. Her performance from New York to Hampton 
Roads and her encounter with the " Merrimac" were deemed satisfac- 
tory tests, and the payment of the reservations was made within one 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 245 

week after that action, as will be seen by the date of the last payment. 
Erroneous newspaper statements were made that tlie '^ Monitor" ^' was 
built by the contractors at their own risk, and that the government 
was not to be called upon for remuneration until the vessel had been 
tested in action. Strong in faith, receiving but a negative support 
from the Navy Department, the contractors conjpleted the ' Monitor' 
at their own cost." It was also stated that a member of the House of 
Representatives from New York " advanced the money and paid the 
expense of getting the ^ Monitor,' which met the ' Merrimac' at Hamp- 
ton Roads, built." The truth is the money applied to build the 
" Monitor" was appropriated by Congress in August, and the money 
promptly handed over to the contractors, agreeably to their contract, as 
the work progressed. While building, the novel experiment received 
ridicule and abuse, but after her wonderful achievement in Hampton 
Roads the tone was changed, and persistent efforts were made to deny 
the Navy Department any credit for her adoption and construction. 

The '' Monitor" left New York March 6, 1862, under command of 
Lieutenant John L. Worden, and on the 8th reached Hampton Roads, 
and the next day her memorable encounter with the '^ Merrimac" took 
place. 

The hull of the " Monitor" was built by Mr. T. F. Rowland, at 
Greenpoint, from Captain Ericsson's drawings,^ and under his personal 
supervision, the material being furnished by his associates, Messrs. 
Griswold, Winslow, and Bushnell. The turret was built at the Nov- 
elty Iron Works, agreeably to his plans and under his supervision, 
with plates, rivets, etc., furnished by his associates. Being too heavy 
for transportation, it was taken down and placed in sections on the 
deck of the vessel. The port-stoppers, of heavy hammered wrought 
iron, were made at the steam-forge of Mr. C. D. DeLancey, in Buffalo. 
After the guns were discharged and run back into the turret, the stop- 
pers were swung over the port-holes, to prevent any shot from entering 
the ports. The closing, being regulated by machinery, was instantane- 
ous, and that side of the turret swung away from the enemy, the guns 
loaded and swung back again, and guns discharged. Thus the ports 
were constantly protected, either by the guns obstructing or by the 
ports being closed by the stoppers. 

The entire internal mechanism of the turret was built to Captain 
Ericsson's working plans at the Delamater Iron Works. The hull 
and side armor was put up by Mr. Rowland. The mode of launching 
was planned by him. To prevent the vessel, when fully equipped 
with machinery, turret, and armor, from plunging under water, Mr. 
Rowland constructed large w^ooden tanks, securing them under the 
stern. The result of these joint efforts was that within one hundred 

1 " A Brief Sketch of the First ' Monitor' and its Inventor," a paper read before 
the Buffalo Historical Society, January 3, 1874, by Eben P. Dorr. 8vo. Pp. 49. 



246 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

days from laying the keel-plates of the hull the whole work was com- 
pleted and the engines of the vessel put in motion under steam. 

The " Monitor'' was launched on the 30th day of January, 1862, 
and her first trial trip and delivery to the navy-yard was February 19, 
1862. She had two trial trips afterwards. On her second trial she 
could not be steered, and went no farther than the foot of Wall Street, 
New York. On the third trial trip, about March 4, she went down 
to Sandy Hook and tried her guns, having on board a board of officers 
consisting of Commodore Gregory, Chief-Engineer Garvin, and Con- 
structor Hart, who reported favorably of her performance.^ 

How the name " Monitor" was given to this first turreted ironclad 
— a name that has since become generic for all this class of vessels — is 
told in the following letter from its inventor ten days before her 
launch : 

" New Yokk, January 20, 1862. 

'^ Sir, — In accordance with your request I now submit for your 
approbation a name for the floating battery at Greenpoint. 

^'The impregnable and aggressive character of this structure will 
admonish the leaders of the Southern Rebellion that the batteries on 
the banks of their rivers will no longer present barriers to the entrance 
of the Union forces. 

'^ The ironclad intruder will thus prove a severe monitor to those 
leaders. But there are other leaders who will be startled and admon- 
ished by the booming of tlie guns from the impregnable iron turret. 
' Downing Street' will hardly view with indifference this last ^ Yankee 
notion,' this monitor. To the Lords of the Admiralty the new craft 
will be a monitor, suggesting doubts as to the propriety of completing 
those four steel-clad ships at three and a half millions apiece. 

" On these and many similar grounds I propose to name the new 
battery ^ Monitor.' 

" Your obedient servant, 

"J. Ericsson. 

^^To GusTAvus Y. Fox, 

" Assistant Secretary of the Navy." 

When the " Monitor" was nearly ready for commission, Lieutenant 
Worden was authorized to select a crew for her from the receiving-ship 
^' North Carolina," or any other vessel of war in New York harbor. 

1 Previous to 1854, Ericsson's mind had dwelt upon the idea of planning and 
constructing an iron-plated shot-proof ship of war, and on the 26th of September, 
1854, he forwarded from New York to Napoleon III. a plan of such a ship, with a 
synopsis of his plans, which shows beyond all cavil that America is the birthplace 
of the " Monitor," and that John Ericsson, the Swede, is its sole inventor. Erics- 
son's letter was promptly acknowledged by the Emperor, but he did not embrace 
the opportunity offered, and the first monitor was built for the United States in the 
early period of its civil troubles. 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 247 

Under that authority he asked for volunteers from the " North Caro- 
lina'^ and the frigate "Sabine," and after fully stating to the crews of 
those vessels the probable dangers of the passage to Hampton Roads, 
and the certainty of "important services to be performed there, he had 
many more volunteers than was required. It is unnecessary, and 
would be out of place here, to detail the fight in Hampton Roads, — 
the first naval duel between ironclads ; that belongs more properly to 
the naval history of the period. Suffice it to say, the little turreted 
vessel, mounting but two guns, stood up successfully to the defense of 
twenty-one ships of war, mounting two hundred and ninety-six guns, 
all alike defenseless against the attack of the ironclad " Merrimac.'' 
She was a modern David, taking the forefront of the battle against 
a modern giant Goliath, while the hosts stood by anxious spectators of 
the conflict. 

From the 10th of March until the destruction of the " Merrimac," 
on the 11th of May, the '^Monitor'' remained at Hampton Roads, 
guarding the Elizabeth and James Rivers, always ready for the '^ Mer- 
rimac." During this time her pilot-house was strengthened by heavy 
pieces of oak and three one-inch layers of iron plates. May 8 she en- 
gaged the battery on SewelFs Point in company with the fleet. May 
12 she led the vessels that went to ]N"orfolk when that city was evacu- 
ated by the rebels. On the 15th she participated in the engagements 
of Fort Darling, seven miles below Richmond. From that time until 
the retreat of the army from the Peninsula she was employed patrol- 
ling the James River, and arrived at Newport News August 31, being 
the last vessel that came down the James River. In September the 
" Monitor'^ proceeded to the Washington Navy- Yard for repairs, and 
sailed again for Hampton Roads in November. 

On the 29th of December, 1862, under the command of Com- 
mander John P. Bankhead, she sailed for Beaufort, North Carolina, 
in company with the United States steamer " Rhode Island,^' her con- 
voy, and on the night of the 30th she foundered near Cape Hatteras. 
About half of her officers and crew were carried down with her, the 
others escaped to the "Rhode Island.'' The cause of her foundering 
is not known. " It may, perhaps," says Mr. Dorr, " be assigned to 
the fact that she had lain all summer in the hot sun of the James 
River. The oak timber which had been fitted to the top edge of the 
iron hull had shrunk so that when in the heavy sea there was two or 
three feet of water over it most of the time on the weather side, and 
the water found its way through this space and flowed in great volume 
into the ship with fatal effect." There can be, I think, no doubt that the 
battering the great overhang of her deck received from the heavy seas 
caused it to separate from the hull to which it was fastened, and 
allowed the water to flow in which sunk her. The report of the 
board of officers who recommended her construction says they were 



248 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

" somewhat apprehensive that her properties for sea are not such as a 
sea-going vessel should possess/^ and this opinion was fully borne out 
by this result. 

1863.— T^^ " Faid Eabani/'— a beautiful steamer, the " Faid 
Eabani/' or '^ Divine Favor/^ was built as a river pleasure yacht for 
the Pacha of Egypt by an English firm in 1863. She was an exqui- 
sitely-modeled vessel of the following dimensions, — viz., keel and fore- 
rake, one hundred and eighty feet; breadth of beam, twenty feet; 
depth of hold, nine feet; draught of water, three feet; power of en- 
gines, one hundred and fifty horses. The yacht was furnished with 
oscillating engines, had feathering paddles, and performed thirteen 
knots an hour without the slightest perceptible vibration. Her en- 
gines were bright with brass and steelwork, and finished with the same 
taste and care used in turning out a gold watch. Although the vessel 
had an ordinary escape-pipe, it was not used, for the steam was blown 
into the water from the sides of the yacht. She had three safety- 
valves and a beautiful small brass donkey-engine, independent of the 
others, for supplying the boilers with water when the large engines 
were still. The principal features of the " Faid E-abani," however 
were her splendid interior furnishings and decorations, including no 
less than four hundred and fifty pictures of separate subjects, set in 
frames. His Highness's reception-room, which was in the poop, was 
an apartment of unrivaled beauty, fitted up with the richest rosewood 
bulkheads, door, etc., the panels of which were filled with beautiful 
pictorial designs on papier-mdche. The divans extending round the 
saloon were covered with costly cloth of gold, from the front of which 
was suspended gold-embroidered needle-work and massive gold-bullion 
fringe. Between the windows were pictures of fruit and flowers, 
birds, etc., and vases enriched by precious stones, executed by a new 
patent gem-enameling process. The ceiling between the beams — 
which were of mahogany, French polished — was filled with designs of 
fruit and flowers on papier-mdche panels, enriched with gold-border 
mouldings. His Highness's bedroom was fitted up in a corresponding 
style of elegance. The cabins were decked out in a style of great 
costliness and magnificence; the fore-cabin contained twelve apart- 
ments for the pacha's officers and suite. A beautiful awning covered 
the main deck and poop. In point of decoration the outside of the 
yacht was worthy of the interior. Round all the windows, from stem 
to stern, were carved and gilt architraves, and the bulwarks were 
ornamented with carved fretwork, relieved with gold. The paddle- 
boxes were also highly ornamented, and on a shield in the centre was 
the vessel's name in Arabic. The figure-head was composed of his 
Highness's crest, supported by two lions richly gilded. The hull was 
painted a very rich green color, and was literally one blaze of gold 
from stem to stern. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 249 

186J/.. — W Iran's Cigar-Shaped Steamship. — In 1858, Messrs. 
Wiuans, of Baltimore (see Harper^ s Weekly, October 28, 1858, where 
drawings were given), built a cigar-shaped steamer w'hich was expected 
to revolutionize transatlantic steam navigation. In 1864 they built at 
Millwall, London, a somewhat similar vessel. She was a great iron 
tube, tapering away to a point at each end, and presenting the 
strangest possible form for a ship, her deck being merely the arc of a 
circle, on which were riveted stanchions for rails, and between these 
a raised platform with seats on each side. She had neither keel nor 
cut-water, and, in the language of her inventor, there was '' no blunt 
bow standing up above the water line to receive blows from heavy 
seas, no flat deck to hold, or close bulwark to retain, the water that a 
rough sea may cast upon the vessel, neither masts, spars, nor rigging.^' ^ 
The length of the vessel was one hundred and eighty ^i^^t, or sixteen 
times its breadth of beam, the whole length being made available to 
secure water-lines favorable to fast speed. She was fitted with high- 
pressure engines, and her boilers were on the principle of those used 
on railway locomotives. The propelling power was a novel application 
of the screw. She appears to have failed for want of sufficient 
stability. 

Messrs. Perkins & Sons, of London, subsequently patented a simi- 
lar design, and proposed to construct and run an experimental fast 
express steamer from England to New York. It was proposed that 
she should be eight hundred feet in length, with forty feet beam, and 
have a flat bottom. She was not to draw more than eleven feet of 
water with her cargo, passengers, and five hundred tons of coal on 
board .^ 

1865. — The '' Dunderberg" or ^^ Rochambeau." — The steam 
ram '^ Dunderberg'^ was launched from the yard of W. H. Webb, New 
York, July 22, 1865. Her length was 378 feet, breadth 73 feet, depth 
of hold 23 feet, tonnage, 7060 tons. Her sides, five feet thick, were 
covered with a five-inch plating of iron. Her guns threw shells of 
600 pounds, and she was driven fifteen nautical miles by an entirely 
concealed force of 1200 horse-power. After offering her to the United 
States government, which had about wound up its expensive civil war 
when she w^as launched, Mr. Webb sold her to the French govern- 
ment, who renamed her the " Rochambeau,'' but in their hands she 
did not prove a success. Having been built of unseasoned white oak, 
she soon required extensive repairs, and was finally broken up without 
having performed any war service. 

The '^ Dunderberg'^ was built under the general superintendence 
of Rear- Admiral F. H. Gregory, U.S.N. The following description 

1 We see here a rude type of the domed steamships of 1882, expected to make 
great speed in crossing the Atlantic. 

2 See W. S. Lindsay's " Merchant Shipping," vol. iv., pp. 568-573. 



250 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

of this Dovel vessel and her launch is derived from the New York 
Sun : 

" At three minutes past nine o'clock on Saturday morning, at 
Webb's yard, New York, was launched the great naval curiosity of 
the age, the monster iron ram ' Danderberg/ the mightiest vessel in 
the world. Admiral Francis H. Gregory, with Commander E-inggold, 
and other members of his staff, occupied a stand decorated with bunt- 
ing, on shore and near the bow of the vessel. A large number of 
other distinguished personages were present. 

" The ^ Dunderberg,' on reaching the dock, was found to be draw- 
ing only fifteen feet aft, thirteen feet amidships, and nine feet six 
inches forward. The lightness of this draught is truly wonderful, and 
it is far less than many people supposed it would be. The ship, dressed 
off in flags and streamers, and her decks covered with ladies and 
gentlemen, made a eplendid appearance in the water. 

^' Early in the beginning of the late Civil War, the builder of the 
^ Dunderberg,' Mr. W. H. Webb, prepared the general plan for the 
construction of a vessel to combine the requirements of the most power- 
ful war- vessel afloat, before the monitors began to dot our coast line. 
The demand for vessels for blockading and swift cruising monopolized 
the attention of those who had the subject in charge. At last the 
order was given and the keel of the ^ Danderberg' was laid. 

*' Due care has been taken to render the ^ Dunderberg' safe in a 
heavy seaway, being intended for a sea-going vessel. The prime 
necessity of offering the utmost resistance to the missiles of an enemy, 
was by no means lost sight of, and the advantages of an angular sur- 
face to receive the enemy's fire has been combined with a great mass 
of timber and the protective powers of four and a half inches of solid 
armor plating. In general appearance she will resemble, w^hen afloat, 
a huge fort embrasured for a score of the heaviest ordnance yet placed 
upon the deck of any vessel. Her magnitude and novel design will 
be rendered pleasing to the eye by her spars and outward fittings; but 
the lack of the common symmetry displayed in marine architecture 
will lose its quaintness and be changed into a feeling of admiration of 
her grandeur and power. 

'^ The whole object in the construction of this noble vessel has been 
to make the most terrible war-vessel in existence ; one that could pro- 
tect our large harbors, but, if required, launch out in mid-ocean to meet 
the enemy, or cross over and place under contribution any of the ports 
of Europe, or crush out any naval force that attempted to impede her 
progress. 

'^ The hull of the ^ Dunderberg' is built of several thousand feet of 
solid timber of the finest quality and choicest selection. The bottom 
is flat, the sides angular and sharp, surmounted by a casemate of six- 
teen guns, although pierced for twenty-one. The hull is built of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 251 

square logs, bolted together, leaving no openings, and caulked inside 
as well as outside. This massive structure is strongly trussed with 
diagonal braces of iron fastened inside of the solid frame, in such a 
manner it seems impossible she could be damaged by any ordinary 
disaster. The hull is three hundred and eighty feet four inches in 
extreme length, and seventy-two feet ten inches extreme beam. The 
main hold is twenty-two feet seven and a half inches in depth. Her 
tonnage is set down by the naval authorities in the register as five 
thousand and ninety tons. 

^' The ^ Dunderberg's' bulkheads are such she may properly be 
described as a double vessel, one being built inside the other. The 
outer vessel destroyed or seriously injured, the inner one would be able 
to buoy up the mass. The bulkheads run longitudinally as well as 
transversely, inclosing the engines, and furnishing ample space for the 
coal-bunkers, which, when filled with coal, give security to the engines 
and boilers against shot or a ram driven by the enemy. 

" The ram is the feature of the ' Dunderberg,' and will attract 
observation and comment. It is a portion of the ship itself. It is the 
bow of the vessel fashioned into a huge beak, and is a solid mass of 
timber extending back fifty feet, arranged with a wrought-iron front- 
piece to protect it from shot and abrasion in contact. 

" The planking of the outer hull is five inches in thickness. Out- 
side the outer planking is the covering of logs. This commences at 
nothing and widens out at the top to seven feet, so that at the bilge it 
is three feet, and at the water-line six feet in thickness. On the 
cushion, which is filled in solid, is placed the armor. 

'^ The captain's cabin is on the main deck and in the casemate aft. 
The ward-room is on the berth-deck aft, and forward of it will be the 
steerage, for the junior engineers, midshipmen, and mates. 

"She will be provided with four heavy anchors, two ^ bowers' and 
two sheet anchors, with several hundred fathoms of chain of the finest 
quality of iron. She will have a number of stream anchors and 
kedges. Two capstans will be placed on deck, one forward and one 
aft, while forward is a windlass of great power. 

" Very large and improved magazines and shell-rooms are placed, 
one forward and the other aft. 

" The engine department is provided with several large and power- 
ful pumps, for clearing the ship of water in event of a leak, as well as 
protection against fire. In addition are two sets of hand-pumps, which 
can be used for like purposes, and besides are two eight-inch steam - 
pumps which are worked independent of the engine. The vessel is 
supplied with one of Normandy's fresh-water condensers capable of 
providing two thousand gallons of drinking-water per day. 

" The Armor. — The armor required for the ^ Dunderberg' will be 
about one thousand tons. The side-armor, of the best hammered iron. 



252 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

is manufactured into slabs, from twelve to fifteen feet in length, by 
three feet in width. These plates are three and a half inches, and are 
screw-bolted to the armor cushion by one-and-a-half-inch bolts. The 
plates are placed vertically, and not horizontally, as in the case with 
the iron-clad vessels of Europe. The armor of the casemate is four 
and a half inches thick, placed vertically on the sloping sides, and 
screw-bolted with one-and-a-half-inch bolts, which enter the wood- 
work to the depth of eighteen inches, none of the fastenings passing 
through the sides ; so there will be no nuts or bolts flying about the 
deck in action. These slabs are twenty-eight inches in width, and are 
eight feet in height. The top of the casemate will have a light bomb- 
proof armor. The main deck outside of the casemate will be covered 
with thick armor, and will be secured to the deck by three-quarter- 
inch iron bolts with counter-sunk heads. The armor will extend out 
over the shelf which serves as a protection to the screw and the two 
rudders. 

^' The pilot-house is six feet in diameter, seven feet in height, and 
ten inches in thickness, and is on the forward upper deck of the 
casemate. 

" In guarding against the assault of the enemy in the rear, Mr. 
Webb has arranged the stern with a view to obtain the greatest strength 
and protection, combined with lightness of construction, to avoid the 
drag of the water as well as the jar in a seaway, this necessary pro- 
jection pounding upon the waves. This marvel of strength, with its 
braces and supports, is generally conceded deserving of the highest 
praise as a piece of skill and ingenuity. 

^' Beneath this shelf is the enormous propeller, weighing 32,000 
pounds, the largest ever cast of composition. The screw shaft has no 
out-board bearing, but works upon a massive metal stern bearing, 
lined with strips of lignum vitse. The screw is twenty-one feet in 
diameter, four feet in diameter at the hub, and tapering down to three- 
quarters of an inch at the edge of the four blades, and has a pitch of 
from twenty-seven to thirty-feet. 

" The main rudder is abaft the propeller, and is a massive wooden 
structure. Forward of the screw, and over the propeller shaft, is a 
spare rudder, which can be put in service should any accident occur to 
the main rudder. 

" The casemate of the ^ Dunderberg' surmounts her hull, and is a 
tower of strength. It is constructed of square logs, each one foot in 
thickness, and is built to the height of seven feet in the clear, and 
covered over with a bomb-proof deck, on which it was intended to 
place two turrets, similar to those in use on board of the monitors. 
The casemate will contain twelve to fourteen 11-inch Dahlgren, and 
four 15-inch Eodman smooth-bore guns, making it the heaviest arma- 
ment of its number ever placed on the deck of any vessel. The 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 253 

* Dunderberg' contract price was one million four hundred thousand 
dollars. 

" The hull of the vessel from below the water-line rises to the gun- 
wale at an angle of about thirty-five degrees, when it joins the case- 
mate, which inclines inward at an angle of about fifty-five degrees. 
This, it is expected, will ^ shed^ shot with perfect ease and certainty. 

"To support the immense weight, and give strength to the bottom 
of the fabric, the vessel has an enormous keel and four keelsons, on 
which rest the bed-plates of the engines, and furnisn the foundation 
for the upright stanchions or supports which aid in holding up the 
weight of the casemate and its contents. 

"The ^Dunderberg' will be rigged as an hermaphrodite brig, — Le.y 
having yards upon her foremast and fore-and-aft sails upon her main- 
mast. She will spread several thousand yards of canvas, w^hich will 
steady her in a seaway and aid her in making a passage across the 
ocean or cruising at sea or along our shores. She will be provided 
with boats to accommodate six hundred souls. 

"GENERAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SHIP. 

Extreme length 380 feet 4 inches. 

Extreme beam 72 " 10 " 

Depth of main hold 22 " 7 " 

Height of casemate 7 " 9 " 

Length of ram 50 " 

Draught when ready for sea 21 " 

Displacement 7000 tons. 

Tonnage ..... 5090 " 

Weight of iron armor 1000 " 

"DIMENSIONS OF ENGINES, BOILERS, ETC. 

Cylinders (two) each 100 inches. 

Stroke of pistons 45 " 

Boilers — six main and two donkey. 

Depth of boilers 13 feet. 

Height of boilers 17 " 6 inches. 

Front of boilers 21 " 6 " 

Weight of boilers 450 tons. 

Boiler surface 30,000 feet. 

Grate surface 1,200 " 

Condenser surface 12,000 square feet. 

Diameter of propeller 21 feet. 

Pitch of propeller 27 to 30 feet. 

Weight of propeller 34,580 pounds. 

Capacity of coal-bunkers 1,000 tons. 

Actual horse-power 5,000 horse. 

Nominal horse-power 1,500 " 

" The Engines. — The ' Dunderberg' will be propelled by two hori- 
zontal back-acting condensing engines of five thousand actual horse- 
power, subjected to the most critical inspection at the instance of the 



254 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Navy Department, and pronounced without fault or blemish in any 
respect. They are massive, beautiful, and powerful, and reflect credit 
upon their builders. The cylinders are two in number, and each one 
hundred inches in internal diameter, with forty-five inches stroke of 
piston. These enormous cylinders were bored out horizontally to 
prevent springing. The engines have one of Allen's patent surface 
condensers, of the tubular pattern, ten feet in width, twenty-six feet 
long, and five feet deep. The air-circulating and condensing pumps 
are worked independently. The air-pump has two steam cylinders, 
36 X 36 inches, working the pump, which is also 36 x 36 inches. The 
circulating pumps, two in number, and the condenser pumps, 33 x 36 
inches, with 36-inch cylinders and 45-inch stroke. There is one bilge- 
pump for each engine, and two donkey-pumps with 9-inch cylinders 
and 12-inch stroke. There are four blowers for ventilation, driven by 
independent engines. 

'^ The main engines are reversed by two small engines which can 
be controlled by a small boy. The engines will make sixty revolutions 
per minute, ordinary speed, on a pressure of twenty-five pounds of 
steam. The pumping, air-condensing, and circulating engines will run 
at forty-five revolutions per minute. A prominent feature of the en- 
gine department of the ^ Dunderberg' is the mechanical skill displayed 
in the placing of the line-shafting and bearing of the propeller-shaft. 
The main bearings are forty inches in length, and are provided with 
hollow brasses for water circulation. The thrust-bearing has thirteen 
thrust-collars on the shaft, and in addition a ball-thrust is attached. 
Steam is furnished to the engines by six horizontal tubular boilers, 
each thirteen feet in depth, seventeen feet six inches in height, and 
twenty-one feet five inches front. The furnaces are situated in two 
tiers, with ten furnaces to each boiler, making a total of sixty furnaces 
in the main boilers. There are two donkey-boilers, each with four 
furnaces. The smoke-pipe is thirteen feet in diameter, and where it 
passes through the gun-room it is shot-proof. It contains a grating to 
prevent anything being thrown down to damage the boilers. Some 
idea can be formed of the size of the smoke-stack when we state that 
it is sufficiently commodious, standing upright, to accommodate twenty 
persons seated around a table placed inside. Bulkheads of iron are 
placed transversely at each end of the space occupied by the boilers 
and machinery ; these extend from the floors up to the spar-deck, and 
form water-tight compartments of sufficient capacity to float the ship 
in case of an emergency. The coal-bunkers have a capacity of one 
thousand tons. The propeller shaft is in four sections, and is one 
hundred and eighteen feet in length ; it is eighteen inches in diameter, 
and is supported by four main journals. The stern bearing is of brass 
and extends outside of the vessel two feet. The engines are expected 
to give the screw sixty revolutions per minute, working at an ordinary 



H18T0RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 255 

and regular rate of speed, although it is believed in case of need they 
can be worked up as high as seventy-five or eighty turns. The former 
rate can be attained with twenty-five pounds pressure of steam, but by 
the addition of the donkey-boilers and full firing, steam can be raised 
to forty pounds. The contract calls for a speed of fifteen knots per 
hour. The ^ Dunderberg' will carry from ten to fifteen days' coal. 
The cost of the engines and boilers will be over half a million of 
dollars.^' 

1866. — The Double-tuereted Monitors "• Monadnock'^ and 
/^ MiANTONOMOH.'^ — This class of vessels was never designed for 
cruising purposes, but for harbor defense and operations upon the coast 
of the United States, and, owing to the foundering of the original 
" Monitor" off Cape Hatteras, and another of these vessels in the 
blockade off Charleston, an impression prevailed that they could not 
be sent with safety outside the harbors in which they were constructed. 
To dispel this false impression the Secretary of the Navy decided to 
send the " Miantonomoh'^ across the Atlantic to Europe and return, 
and the " Monadnock" via the Straits of Magellan to California, but 
not without accompanying vessels to tow them if needed, and to insure 
the safety of their crews in case of disaster or shipwreck. The " Mo- 
nadnock,'' after navigating the Atlantic and Pacific, reached San Fran- 
cisco in safety and was placed in ordinary at Mare Island Navy- Yard, 
where an iron vessel of the same name and similar dimensions has 
since been built, to receive her engines and machinery, the old wooden 
hull having become decayed. The " Miantonomoh,'' a vessel of the 
same size and type, crossed the Atlantic, passed up the Baltic to Cron- 
stadt, visited many of the principal ports of Europe, and returned in 
safety to the United States. Like her sister vessel, her wooden hull, 
having become decayed, has been replaced by an iron one, and her iron 
plating has been exchanged for one of compound steel. 

The ^' Monadnock," under command of Lieutenant-Commander 
Francis M. Bunce, sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, November 2, 
1865, in company with the " Yanderbilt'^ and the " Powhatan,^' paddle- 
wheel steamers, and the '^ Tuscarora/' a screw ship, and arrived at St. 
Thomas, West Indies, November 11, after a somewhat stormy passage 
of nine days. " The ' Monadnock' behaved so well at sea," says Com- 
modore John Rodgers in his official report, '^as to inspire her officers 
not only with confidence, but with enthusiasm at her performance as a 
sea-boat. They do not doubt her ability to go anywhere." At St. 
Thomas she was visited by Santa Anna, ex-president of Mexico. 
Captain Bunce, in his report from there, says, ^' The engines have not 
stopped except in obedience to the bell. She has made an average speed 
of 5.85 knots per hour, the greatest distance run in any one day being 
162; the least, 79.5. In scudding she behaves well, her propeller 
guarding the rudder against heavy shocks. A head sea has but little 



256 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

effect on her. Her motion is greatest with the sea abaft the beam ; 
but her roll, though quick and short, is easy/^ On her voyage to St. 
Thomas she consumed 213 tons of coal, or an average of 23 tons 
8 cwt. daily. On the 26th of November she arrived at Salute Island, 
French Guiana, having made an average speed of 6.01 knots per hour 
on an average daily expenditure of 25 tons, 19 cwt. of coal. On the 
10th of December she was at Ciara, Brazil, after a passage from Salute 
Island of nine days, five hours, having made an average speed of 5.34 
knots per hour on a daily expenditure of 27J tons of coal. On the 26th 
of December she arrived at Bahia in company with the attending squad- 
ron, having stopped at Pernambuco ; her steaming performance con- 
tinued equally, and she aided her engines with extemporized sails, which 
added from a knot to a knot and a half to her speed. On the 3d of 
January the squadron arrived at Rio Janeiro, and on the passage from 
Bahia to Rio her average speed was seven knots on a daily expenditure 
of 26 J tons of coal. At Rio the emperor of the Brazils, Dom Pedro 
II., visited the "Monadnock.'^ From Rio to Montevideo she averaged 
a speed of 7.37 knots. From Montevideo to Valparaiso her average 
speed was 7.1 knots. Commodore Rodgers, in his report from Val- 
paraiso, March 2, 1866, says, — 

'^ Any difficulties in the voyage to San Francisco which may have 
been anticipated are believed to end here. It would be something un- 
usual were we to encounter any weather which an ordinary steamboat 
could not resist. The powers of the monitor have been much more 
than equal to the difficulties that we have thus far met, and the result 
amply vindicates the judgment of the department in directing a voyage 
which was generally thought perilous, but of the success of which I 
had no doubt. In the long seas of the Pacific to the southward of 
this I observed that the ^ Monadnock' took very little water upon her 
decks, rising over the waves easily and buoyantly." Her commander, 
the same, reports, *' The machinery has worked admirably. The 
passage through the Straits of Magellan and Sarmiento Channel to the 
Gulf of Penar presented no difficulties which w^re not easily over- 
come. I feared, in passing through the narrow places and abru{)t 
turnings, the length of the ship would give trouble, but in practice 
found none whatever.'' 

On the 25th of April the " Monadnock'' arrived at Callao, Peru, 
and on May 13 at Panama, having stopped at Payta, with her usual 
average of speed and expenditure of coal. Her next stopping-place 
was Acapolio, in Mexico, May 29, and on the 22d of June she arrived 
at San Francisco. On the 28th of June, Commodore Rodgers re- 
ports, " I have the honor to announce the safe arrival of the ^ Van- 
derbilt' and the ^ Monadnock' at the navy-yard. Mare Island. The 
^ Monadnock' found no weather on her voyage from Philadelphia to 
this place which seemed to touch the limit of her sea-going qualities. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 257 

The CDgines have performed as satisfactory as the hull, and have ar- 
rived in complete order. The success of the voyage amply vindicates 
the judgment of the department in undertaking it, and the hopes of 
the most sanguine of ' Monitor' people are fulfilled in this crucial 
experiment/' 

Lieutenant-Commander Bunce, in his report, says, ^^ During the 
recent passage of this ship from Philadelphia to this port (San Fran- 
cisco) the ' Monadnock' has run by log 15,385 knots. Her average 
speed has been 6.32 knots. The engines have been run about sixty 
revolutions per minute, that being the point judged to be most eco- 
nomical in fuel and in wear and tear of machinery. Not a single 
piece of the spare machinery has been used, and the engines are all 
now in good working order ; they have been able to perform all work 
demanded of them. The vessel is an excellent sea-boat, and has re- 
ceived no damage from any weather we have encountered. 

^' In her present condition she is as perfectly safe and trustworthy a 
vessel for cruising in any part of the world as a vessel can be relying 
on steam alone for its motive-power, and twice as safe as most steamers, 
for she has two independent pairs of steam-engines, either of which 
are sufficient to keep the ship under control in any weather, and to 
propel her in ordinary conditions of wind and sea five knots per hour. 
At sea she has never needed or received assistance of any kind what- 
ever from other vessels, and therefore I regard her, or any vessel of 
her class, as a thoroughly competent, independent cruiser." 

Such was the successful voyage of the first turreted vessel from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific. It was followed soon after by the safe voyages 
of two siugle-turreted monitors to Callao, which had been sold to the 
agents of the Peruvian government by the government of the United 
States.^ 

The " Miantoxomoh" and her Yoyage. — We now turn to 
the voyage of the sister ship, and her crossing and recrossing the 
Atlantic. The '^ Miantonomoh" left New York under the command of 
Commander J. C. Beaumont, and under the escort of the paddle-wheel 
steamship '' Augusta" and the double-ender '^ Ashuelot," May 6, and 
arrived at Halifax on the 10th ; left Halifax on the 18th, and ar- 
rived at St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 23d, and at Queenstown, 

1 The two monitors, "Catawba" and " Oneota," of 1054 tons, fitted with 
Ericsson's patent trunk engines, were purchased from the United States govern- 
ment by the agents of the Peruvian government, and added to the navy of the 
republic under the names of " Manco Capac" and " Atahuailpa." They arrived 
at Callao in May, 1870, after a prolonged voyage of eighteen months, having 
steamed 12,000 miles, the engines having made 4,500,000 revolutions. In latitude 
44° 50'' S. in the Pacific they encountered a very heavy gale, which not only tried 
the strength of the ship, but its sea-going qualities. The monitors proved splendid 
sea-boats, their heaviest rolling being but seven degrees, while their convoy was 
rolling twenty-eight degrees. 

19 



258 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Ireland, June 16, at 4 p.m., after a pleasant passage across the Atlantic 
of ten days, and having been in tow of the ^^ Augusta," ^' as a matter 
of convenience or precaution" more than necessity, a great portion of 
the way, the ^' Miantonomoh" consuming a fair proportion of coal. 
Captain Murray, in his report, says, " I think she could have crossed 
over alone. Heavy weather does not appear to materially afiPect the 
speed or rolling of the monitor, for while the other vessels were 
lurching about, their progress being checked by heavy seas, she went 
along comparatively undisturbed or unchecked." On the 23d of June 
the " Miantonomoh" arrived at Portsmouth, England. Mr. Fox, 
Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy, joined her at Halifax 
and took passage in her to Queenstown, where he left her, being a 
special messenger to the emperor of Russia, bearing the congratula- 
tions of the people of the United States on his escape from assassina- 
tion. He rejoined her, however, at Cherbourg, France, but left her 
again at Kiel. The '' Miantouomoh" afterwards made an extended 
cruise in the Mediterranean, visiting most of the principal naval ports, 
and returned to the United States via the West Indies, arriving at 
Philadelphia in July, 1867, after having steamed 17,767 miles. Her 
performance was in every respect as satisfactory as was that of the " Mo- 
n'adnock." Everywhere she was an object of interest and attention. 
In England she was visited by the lords of the Admiralty, the Prince 
of Wales, the Dukes of Edinburgh, Argyle, and Sutherland, and other 
high dignitaries ; in Copenhagen, by the king of Denmark and the 
royal family ; and her arrival at Cronstadt with the ^' Augusta" was the 
occasion of a great naval f<§te. Indeed, her whole cruise in Northern 
Europe proved one continued ovation. At Hamburg, Rear-Admiral 
Popoif, the distinguished naval constructor of the Russian navy, came 
on board, and with his staff took passage in her to Cronstadt, and was 
delighted with his trip and the performance of, the monitor. 

The recrossing the Atlantic was accomplished under the most favor- 
able circumstances as regards weather, but the monitor, in consequence 
of a foul bottom, did not behave as well, her average speed being but 
six and a half knots instead of seven, which was the average made 
during the run from St. John's to Queenstown. On both passages she 
was aided a greater part of the time by the towMine of the '^ Augusta.'^ 
From Naples to Philadelphia, a distance of 7500 miles, head winds 
were encountered in only two instances, — viz., on the second day out 
from Naples, and the day before she arrived in the Delaware. 

After these two voyages no doubt remained that the larger class 
of monitors were seaworthy vessels, capable of crossing the Atlantic or 
visiting the most distant seas, when necessity required them to, though 
their particular province is the defense of our coasts and harbors. 

The tonnage of the "Monadnock" and the '' Miantonomoh," then 
building, is stated in the United States Navy Register for 1864, by the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 259 

old measurement, to be 1564 tons each. In 1866, by the new measure- 
ment, the '' Miantonomoh" was 1225 tons; the '^Monadnock" 1091, 
which infers a difference of model. They continued to be so reported 
until the register of 1881, where both are stated to have a tonnage of 
1226 tons, and a displacement of 3815 tons. 

It seems more than probable that the seaworthiness of these vessels 
suggested the idea of the domed and mastless steamship "Meteor,'^ 
now (1882) building, which is to make a rapid transit of the Atlantic, 
if the expectation of her constructor and owners is fulfilled. 

1866. — British Steam Invention for Ten Years Pre- 
ceding. — The British Patent-Office has published a series of classified 
abridgments of specifications of patents in fifty-five handy volumes, 
which contain all the patents of the particular subjects treated in each 
volume that have been reported from the establishment of the patent- 
office up to a late date. No such index of American invention has 
been issued by the United States Patent-Office, and the inquirer has 
to search through the records of one hundred years to select what he 
particularly wants. 

Thus the two 12mo volumes, of 333 and 340 pages respectively, 
^^on marine propulsion, exclusive of sails,^.^ contain abridgments of 
every patent on that subject issued from the British Patent-Office from 
1618 to 1866. 

The second volume shows that during the ten years comprised 
between January, 1857, and December, 1866, 17 patents were taken 
out for air expelled to propel a vessel, 26 for air-pump to steam-engine, 
26 for fire-bars to steam-engine, 163 concerning boilers, 8 for canal 
navigation, 5 for cranks, 119 for cylinders, 74 for condensers, 6 for 
vessels supported on drums, 212 for steam-engines, 75 for feathering 
paddles, 100 concerning furnaces, 35 for governors, 7 for gauges, 69 
for hydro-propulsion, 11 for preventing the incrustation of boilers, 10 
for life-boats, etc., 8 for atmospheric-engines, 4 for gas-engines, 5 for 
heated air, 32 for paddle-floats, 98 for paddle-wheels, 10 for submerged 
wheels, 340 for screw propellers, devices of various kinds, etc., 15 for 
refrigerators for engines, 70 concerning shafts for paddle-wheels or 
propellers, 3 for starting-gear, 4 for stopping vessels, 52 for steering, 4 
for submarine vessels, 29 for superheating steam, 11 for towing, 27 
for turbines, 71 for valve and valve gear, 3 for revolving vessels, 2 for 
vessel separate for engine, and many other minor inventions ; and the 
first volume (1618-1857) contains thirty pages of index, showing quite 
as many more. 

1867. — Steamers on Lake Memphremagog, New Haj^ep- 
SHIRE. — The Memphremagog Steam Navigation Company had three 
steamers in 1867 plying upon that lake in New Hampshire, and two 
more upon the stocks. A traveler describes a trip in one of these 
boats to inspect another upon the stocks that year. 



260 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

" Friday last/^ he says, " I took a trip upon the ' Mountain Maid' 
to Magog to inspect the new boat. She exceeds the best of the Winni- 
piseogee boats in her construction, in speed, and in her appointments, 
and will equal the largest of them in size. She is not an American 
boat, although American capital has been liberally invested in her. 
She will fly the flag of the new Dominion of Canada (supposing that 
to be different from the British bunting). 

" The name of the steamer is taken from Mount Oxford, the highest 
mountain in Canada, which stands a sentinel at the outlet of the lake, 
rearing its pyramid almost five thousand feet from its waters. The 
hull is iron, the plates having been made and fitted upon the Clyde. 
Her length is one hundred and seventy feet; her low pressure engine 
has a thirty-six-inch cylinder and ten feet stroke, and is of superior 
finish. 

'^ The company has purchased the ^ Mountain Maid' and rebuilt 
her. The ^ Oxford' is to make two trips a day through the lake. 
The ^ Maid' will run as an auxiliary freight- and tow-boat," 

The '^ Mountain Maid" being insufficient to meet the wants of 
pleasure-seekers, an iron steamer was built and placed on the lake. 
The hull was built on the Clyde. It was brought over, and the 
steamer completed at Magog. It is one hundred and seventy feet long, 
and is divided into four water-tight compartments, and is conveniently 
fitted up with dining-saloon and ladies' cabin. It was christened the 
" Lady of the Lake." It runs seventeen miles an hour, makes two 
daily trips between Newport and Magog, and takes three hours to 
make the run from one end of the lake to the other, including stops. 

In addition to the '' Lady of the Lake," there are a number of 
smaller steamers at Newport. 

i^'^P.— Steamer on the Great Salt Lake. — The '' Kate 
Corser," the first steamer to cross the American " Dead Sea," — the 
Great Salt Lake, — and employed for some time in transporting ties to 
the Union Pacific Railroad, in 1869 made a successful trip up Bear 
River to Corinne. The local newspaper says, " Oii nearing the city 
the circus band-wagon containing the band, with several other carriages, 
started to meet her. About one mile below she steamed to shore and 
took them aboard. She stemmed the current admirably, and bore up 
to the city like a swan, amid the sound of swelling music, the deafen- 
ing boom of anvils, and the cheers of the throng upon the river's 
bank." Bear River was found to be perfectly free from falls or 
rapids ; the current, however, was very strong. 

Extraordinary Inland Voyage. — On the 5th day of August, 
1869, the steamer *^ Helen Brooks" left Baltimore, Maryland, for 
Bayou Teche, Louisiana. She left Baltimore by way of the Chesa- 
peake Bay, and passed through the State of Delaware by canal ; up 
the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey ; through the State of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



261 



New Jersey by canal ; down the Raritan River to New York City ; 
up the Hudson River to Troy ; through the State of New York by 
the Erie Canal to Buffalo; thence by way of Lake Erie to Chicago; 
down through the Illinois Canal to the Illinois River; and thence 
down the Mississippi River^ arriving at Napoleon October 14, 1869, 
after a circuitous journey of over three thousand miles. 



THE MERCANTILE STEAMERS OF THE WORLD, 1870-74. 





Number. 


Average Size in Tons. 


Tonnage. 


Nationality. 






















1870. 


1873. 


1874. 


1870. 


1873. 


1874. 


1870. 


1873. 


1874. 


American 


597 


403 


613 


861 


1199 


1254 


513.792 


483,040 


768,724 


Asiatic 






6 
81 


599 


925 


576 
1025 


■ 44,312 


■ 84,155 


3 459 


Austrian 


74 


91 


83,039 


Belgian 


14 


42 


39 


746 


725 


1039 


10,462 


30,444 


40,536 


British 


2426 


3061 


3002 


681 


857 


1005 


1,651,767 


2,624,431 


3,015,773 








9 
67 


275 


486 


592 

582 


* 12,085 


' 34,498 


5,332 


Danish 


44 


71 


38,976 


Dutch 


82 


95 


107 


481 


766 


876 


39,405 


72,753 


98.723 


French ........ 


288 


392 


315 


739 


808 


1012 


212,976 


316,765 


318.757 


German 


127 


200 


220 


827 


1024 


1222 


105,131 


204,894 


268,828 


Greek 


8 


8 


9 


408 


424 


592 


3.267 


3,390 


5,329 


Italian 


86 


108 


110 


423 


826 


827 


36,358 


85,045 


91,011 


Norwegian 


26 


88 


112 


282 


473 


453 


7,321 


41,602 


51,103 


Portuguese 


18 


17 


23 


729 


855 


802 


13,126 


14,536 


18,452 


Russian 


62 


114 


144 


458 


592 


771 


28,422 


67,522 


111,072 


South American . . . 






72 






728 






52,387 


Spanish 


148 


202 


212 


492 


686 


733 


72,845 


138,675 


155,417 


Swedish 


83 


143 


195 


224 


373 


397 


18,633 


53,327 


77,440 


Turkish and Egyptian 




9 


29 




339 


949 


.... 


3,049 


27,530 


Various 


49 


109 




481 


643 


• • 


23,550 


70,067 




Totals 


4132 


5148 


5365 


676 


841 


974 


2,793,452 


4,328,193 


5,226,888 



1872. — From 1841 to 1872 fourty-four steamships, employed on 
voyages between the United States, England, and the Continent, were 
lost. Four of these were wooden paddle-wheel steamers, the remainder 
were iron vessels. 

The '' President,'^ '' City of Glasgow,'' " City of Boston," " Pacific,'' 
^' Tempest," " United Kingdom," and '^ Mina Thomas" foundered at 
sea, and were never heard from. Between 1857 and 1864 nine iron 
steamers, running from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Portland, 
Maine, were lost. 

1867. — Petroleum as Fuel on Board Steamers. — Under au- 
thority of an act approved April 27, 1866, appropriating five thousand 
dollars for testing the use of petroleum as a fuel under marine boilers, 
an elaborate series of experiments was made at the Boston Navy-Yard 
on board the United States steamer '^ Palos," a first-class screw tug- 
boat of 350 tons, to ascertain the value of crude petroleum as a fuel 
for generating steam in marine boilers, the burning apparatus being 
the invention of Mr. Henry E. Foote. The steamer made a successful 
excursion dow^n the harbor and back, and the experiments were con- 
tinued at the wharf for several months, but the general result was not 
considered satisfactory. About the same time other experiments were 



262 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

made at the Brooklyn Navy-Yard with the same fuel and the boilers 
and apparatus invented by Clark Fisher, an engineer of the United 
States navy. Also, among other systems of burning petroleum under 
the same boilers, was tried that of Mr. Simon Stevens.^ 

The conclusion arrived at was that convenience, health, comfort, 
and safety were against the use of petroleum in steam-vessels, and that 
the only advantage shown was a not very important reduction in the 
bulk and weight of fuel carried. 

1867.— \Ji^ to 1867 the largest and fastest merchant ocean steamer 
built on the American continent was the "Adriatic," of the Collins 
Line. The hull was 343y|- feet long on the load-line, and her extreme 
breadth 343^f feet. Her displacement was 5233 tons. 

i<576>.— The " Palos.''— The first United States steamer to pass 
through the Suez Canal was the '^Palos," fourth-rate, Commander L. 
A. Beardslee, which entered the canal at Port Said on the morning of 
August 9, 1870. Leaving it on the 11th at 7 a.m., the steamer arrived 
at Ismailia at 3 p.m., having been detained three hours in the "gares'^ 
waiting for steamers coming from the southwest to pass, and after 
several other detentions at " gares'^ arrived at Suez at 1.30 p.m., August 
13, 1870, having been under way in the canal seventeen hours. 

Commander Beardslee reported that the canal for its entire length 
at that date had a nearly level floor, with from 24 to 28 feet;of water, 
72 feet wide, and that a vessel drawing 16 feet had a channel 116 feet 
in width. 

1870. — The " Hotspur," the first ironclad, constructed chiefly as 
a ram for the royal navy, was launched in 1870. 

1870. — Compound Engines in the Eoyal Navy. — The wooden 
screw corvette "Briton" was taken out of Sheerness harbor on the 10th 
of June, 1870, for a final trial of her engines and the newly invented 
plan of reheating the steam on its passage from a small to a large 
cylinder. The London Times said, "The value of the invention was 
amply proved ; the trial having finally disposed of the long-vexed 
question as to the best means of economizing fuel in steamships." The 
"Briton" was kept in full speed for four consecutive hours, the engines 
making seventy-seven revolutions, the speed being over twelve knots, 
and the consumption of coal only 1.3 pounds per horse-power per hour, 
the average consumption of coal on her Majesty's steamers having 
before ranged from 3 to 4 pounds per horse-power per hour. A pre- 
vious trial of the " Briton" had not been so successful. 

1871. — Compound Engines in the United States Navy. — 
This year Chief-Engineer J. W. King, U.S.N., made a strong report 
in favor of compound engines, in which he stated that the Fairfield 
Works on the Clyde had completed one hundred and ih'wiy pairs of 

^ See Eeport of Secretary of the Navy, December 2, 1867. Eeport of the 
Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 263 

compound engines, and had then, at the time of his visit, twenty-two 
pairs under construction, all for ocean steamers. That firm or company 
was then regarded as the pioneer of the compound system, and its pro- 
ductions were accepted as the best types.^ 

In consequence of this favorable report, the Honorable Secretary 
of the United States Navy ordered all new vessels and those requiring 
new engines to be fitted with those of the compound type.^ In De- 
cember, 1872, Chief-Engineers Charles H. Loring and Charles H. 
Baker made a very strong report to the Secretary of the Navy in favoi'^^X^'^ 
of compound engines. 

187^. — Fuel-Savings Experiment. — In 1872 a discovery was 
made by which the cost of steam-power, it was claimed, was reduced 
sixty per cent. It was put into practical operation at the Atlantic 
Works in Boston. By a novel process the great amount of heat that 
escapes into the air in the waste or exhaust steam from engines is util- 
ized by conducting it through the tubes of a boiler filled with the 
bisulphide of carbon, ^^a fluid which boils at 110° F., and at the tem- 
perature of exhaust steam gives a pressure of sixty-five pounds to the 
inch in the boiler ;'' the vapor formed in this boiler is used to drive an 
engine, instead of steam, and after being used, is condensed by cooling, 
pumped into the boiler again, and used continuously without loss. 

Careful experiments proved that the fuel required to produce one 
hundred horse-power with the best engines then in use would by this 
process produce two hundred and fifty horse-power, a gain of one hun- 
dred and fifty per cent, in the power obtained by the same consumption 
of fuel. 

For making a careful test of this process, two new engines of the 
same size and construction were put up at the Atlantic Works. One 
was run by steam in the usual manner, while the heat that escaped in 
the exhaust from this engine was used to heat a boiler and drive the 
second engine. A careful measurement of the power produced by 
each of the engines showed that while the first engine, worked by 
steam in the usual way, produced. 6.23 horse-power, the second engine, 
worked entirely by the waste heat escaping in the exhaust from the 
first, produced 9.12 horse-power, the two together producing 15.35 
horse-power with the fuel required to drive the steam-engine alone. 

The coal required to run a steam-engine of one hundred horse- 
power, of the best class in use, is about four thousand pounds per day, 
or six hundred tons a year. It was claimed by this discovery that 
the same engine could be run with sixteen hundred pounds of coal per 
day, or two hundred and forty tons per year, saving three hundred 
and sixty tons of coal a year for each hundred horse-power produced. 

^ Report of J. W. King, U.S.N., Chief of Bureau of Steam Engineering, 
to the Secretary of the Navy, October 30, 1871. 
See Secretary of Navy Report, 1872. 



264 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

For steam-vessels the advantages of this process would be greater 
than for stationary engines, as a large amount of room occupied by coal 
would be saved, and could be used for freight. The vessel could also 
carry fuel to last through a much longer voyage, enabling steam- to 
compete with sailing-vessels on long voyages advantageously. 

1873, — The Cable Steamer "Faraday." — This vessel was 
built in 1873 for laying Atlantic cables. She is 366 feet in length, 
has 52 feet beam, is 36 feet in depth, and measures 5000 tons gross, 
but can carry 6000 tons dead weight. Her iron hull, in addition to 
the requirements of '^ Lloyds/' was enormously strengthened to fit her 
for the service for which she was built. She is fitted with three cable 
tanks constructed of plate-iron, which form a series of double arches 
supporting the sides of the vessel. These tanks are united together 
and to the general fabric of the hull by five iron decks. The vessel is 
doubled-bottomed, the space between the two bottoms being a net-work 
of iron girders for carrying the cable tanks, and at the same time 
giving longitudinal strength to that portion of the hull. The space is 
further utilized for carrying water ballast, to trim the vessel as the 
cable is run out, and to enable her to make a voyage across the At- 
lantic without cargo or other weight beyond fuel. In outward ap- 
pearance the " Faraday" is unlike other ocean steamers, her bow and 
stern being of the same form, and she is fitted with a rudder at each 
end. She has two surface condensing engines, each working a separate 
screw. The object of this arrangement is to obtain increased steering 
or manoeuvring power, which is a very important condition in cable 
laying. 

1875. — The Double- Hull " Castalia." — To provide ample ac- 
commodations for all classes of passengers under shelter as well as on 
deck, to reduce the motion of rolling and pitching to a minimum, and 
to keep the draught to six feet, so that the steamer could enter the channel 
ports on both sides at every state of tide, the " Castalia" was built at 
the Thames Iron Works. She may be roughly described as the two 
halves of a longitudinally divided hull, 290 feet long, placed 26 feet 
apart, and strongly bound together. Under this deck worked a pair 
of paddle-wheels, side by side, on two separate shafts, so that each 
wheel could be worked independently by two pairs of engines, one 
pair on each half of the vessel. The division of the hull provided a 
deck sixty feet wide. Before and behind the engine were state-saloons 
enclosed by the hurricane deck running the whole width of the vessel. 
There were also decks below running fore and aft to within a few feet 
of the double bow in the separate hulls. The " Castalia" had accom- 
modation for one thousand passengers. 

A correspondent of the London Times says of this steamer, — 

"Returning from our autumnal tour, we determined to give the 
* Castalia' a trial. The weather was unusually boisterous ; at Calais it 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 265 

was difficult to stand against the gust of wind which swept across the 
pier. Outside, the sea ran high, and the usual discomforts of the passage 
presented themselves to us. The ^ Castalia/ when she left the pier, seemed 
to glide to the turbulent waters outside. For a moment it puzzled one 
to find the deck as firm and level as a dinner-table, and yet waves 
breaking all around. We performed the passage to Dover in about 
two hours and a quarter ; the motion was very slight indeed, about as 
much as in the ordinary steamers after they get within the harbor of 
Dover or Calais, — every few minutes there was one single roll of about 
three degrees. There was no tremulous motion from the paddles. I 
explored the saloons for indications of straining, but found none ; the 
surface of the paint was without a shadow of a crack, and throughout 
the passage there was no creaking noise. When we arrived in Dover 
the decks before and aft of the funnels were as dry as when we left 
Calais. The sea was enough to try the regular steamers, but on board 
the ^Castalia' children were playing about, every one was perfectly 
comfortable, and I can safely state that it is the first time I ever crossed 
the Channel without seeing a sign of sickness.'' 

1875. — The '' Bessemer." — This vessel was constructed for the 
Channel service to combine great speed, a light draught, and the least 
possible rolling and pitching motions, and to aiford passengers crossing 
the Channel the quickest transit with the greatest amount of ease, at an 
immersion so small that the vessel could enter the existing English 
and French harbors at all times of the tide. The " Bessemer" was 
designed by E. J. Reed, ex-constructor to the royal navy, with the 
exception of her anti-seasick swinging saloon, which was the invention 
of Mr. Bessemer. The vessel was so novel in her construction as to 
be an object of great interest. She was three hundred and fifty feet 
long at the water-line, and forty-eight feet at each end ; the deck was 
only four feet above the line of flotation, so that in rough weather the 
sea would wash over these low ends. The decks on this portion of the 
vessel had a considerable curve, and the sides of the ship were rounded 
ofip so that the water might escape. This form of end was selected to 
obviate any tendency to pitching. Above these low decks was a breast- 
work eight feet high, two hundred and fifty-four feet long, and all the 
width of the vessel. The whole of this breastwork deck was for the 
use of the passengers, and portions fore and aft of the paddle-boxes 
were protected with stanchions. The vessels were propelled hy four 
paddle-wheels, and ninety feet of space between the paddles was occu- 
pied by the swinging saloon. Beyond this and at each end the space 
nearest the saloon was occupied by the engines and the boilers. At 
one end of the breastwork there was accommodation for the crew, and 
beneath their quarters stowage-room for passengers' luggage, etc. At 
the opposite end of the breastwork the space was fitted with cabins for 
the ladies, and below these cabins was a saloon fifty-two feet long, fitted 



266 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

with sofa seats all around. Along the sides of the breastwork deck^ 
between the paddle-boxes, were other cabins, smoking- and refreshment- 
rooms. The " Bessemer" swinging saloon was about seventy feet long, 
thirty-five feet wide, and twenty feet high. The weight of the saloon 
was borne by four large bearings, one at each end and two near the 
centre. The end bearings were fixed on iron transverse bulkheads, 
which were well-stiffened by fore-and-aft ways to prevent their buck- 
ling. The saloon was a superbly-fitted apartment. The top of it 
formed a promenade-deck, and was fitted all around with seats. The 
saloon was entirely under the control of machinery invented by Mr. 
Bessemer, and it was expected that the passengers would not feel any 
more unpleasant sensation than they would in going up or down the 
Thames. 

The swinging saloon was in the centre of the vessel, and was en- 
tered by two broad staircases leading to a landing connected with the 
saloon by a flexible flooring. The aftermost of the two central supports 
was hollow, and served as a part of the hydraulic machinery for regu- 
lating the motion of the saloon. 

The nominal horse-power of the engines of the " Bessemer" was 
750, but they could be worked up to an indicated power of 4600, and 
were calculated to drive the vessel at a speed of from eighteen to twenty 
statute miles an hour. The paddle-wheels, one hundred and six feet 
apart and twenty-seven feet ten inches in diameter, were fitted with 
twelve feathering floats. 

May 8, 1876. — The " Bessemer" crossed from Dover to Calais 
and back again, when her speed was about the same as the ordinary 
boats. 

The " Calais-Douvre." — Another twin boat for crossing the 
Channel between England and France, called the " Calais-Douvre," 
in some respects an improvement on the " Bessemer," has been built 
and is in successful service. Her length is three hundred and two 
feet; breadth over all sixty-one feet; depth, thirteen feet nine inches; 
water-space between the hulls, twenty-four and a half feet ; draught, 
seven feet; speed, fourteen and a half to fifteen knots. The diameter 
of her cylinders is sixty-three inches ; stroke of piston, six feet ; cut- 
off, three-tenths of stroke ; revolutions of her paddle-wheel, thirty-five 
per minute ; steam pressure, thirty pounds ; diameter of wheel, twenty- 
four feet ; beam of each hull, eighteen f^et three inches ; horse-power, 
3600. She was built at I^ewcastle-upon-Tyne. 

1875. — High-Speed Boats in Kussia. — In 1875 a high-speed 
boat was built at St. Petersburg on an improved plan, whose outer 
hull was made entirely of Muntz metal, it being cheaper than copper 
as a sheathing for wooden vessels. In a trial with one of the fastest 
boats she was victorious, and accomplished nineteen miles per hour, 
the engines making an average of nearly six hundred revolutions per 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 267 

minute, working with steam at one hundred pounds per square inch. 
This vessel is described as forty-eight feet long at the load-line, having 
six and one-half feet beam, and three and one-half feet depth of hold, 
while her mean draught was one foot nine inches. She had compound 
engines of superior workmanship in every respect, which drove a screw 
two feet nine inches in diameter, having three feet four inches in pitch. 

1876. — The "Iona.^^ — The ^^lona," a paddle-wheel steamer em- 
ployed in the passenger trafQc between Glasgow and the Western High- 
lands, had cabin accommodations for twelve hundred passengers, and 
her long range of saloon-houses, with plate-glass windows fore and aft, 
gave her a graceful appearance. Her dimensions were : Length, 250 
feet ; beam, 25 feet. She was propelled by a pair of oscillating engines 
with a continued nominal power of 180 horses. Her draught, when fully 
laden, did not exceed six feet, and her speed under favorable circum- 
stances was from twenty to twenty-one miles per hour. She was the 
fastest steam-vessel in Great Britain, and, one or two steamers of the 
United States excepted, in the world. 

1878.— T^E. ^' Ieis."— There was in the British navy in 1878 a 
man-of-war capable of steaming twenty-one miles an hour. She was 
a vessel named the '^ Iris,^' of nearly four thousand tons measurement, 
having a nominal speed of seven thousand horse-power. When fully 
equipped and armed she may not have been so fleet, but the surprising 
speed realized at Portsmouth was not considered the maximum that 
the ^^ Iris'' was capable of making. A previous trial of the ship's 
engines had not been so satisfactory. At that time a huge, four-bladed 
screw was fitted, and the improvement in the fleetness of the vessel 
was due to reducing the surface of the screw, and employing two blades 
instead of four. The engines, powerful as they were, had been over- 
weighted by the screw. 

The '^ Iris" was the forerunner of a steel flotilla of six corvettes and 
two dispatch-boats of a similar character. 

By employing steel in lieu of iron, it has been possible to construct 
much lighter craft, with finer lines to the vessels, without sacrificing 
their strength and solidity. The steel corvettes are to be fleet boats, 
but have the high speed of the '^ Iris" or the '^Mercury." They are 
intended for swift cruisers, and, though comparatively lightly armed, 
each of them have a pair of 7-inch or armor-piercing guns. They 
are named, respectively, " Carysfort," '^ Champion," '^ Cleopatra," 
'' Comus," " Conquest," and '^ Curagoa." The '' Iris" and the '' Mer- 
cury" armaments consist of sixty-four pounders ; but their speed is such 
that they will always have the option of fighting or running away. 

1878. — Steamboats in Corea. — A steamboat built by the 
Coreans is thus referred to in the North China Daily News of March 
28, 1878: 

'^ Everything European, just because it is so, is despised, but the 



268 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

Coreans try hard to originate wonderful undertakings. For about 
eight months they have been working at a steamboat, and some ten 
thousand taels have been used up. There is the shell with three keels, 
which makes the thing rather flat. The bow is sharp, and there are 
port-holes for cannon ; a smoke-stack, which has-been observed at work, 
but the wheels are wanting. Meanwhile, for fear the Japanese might 
benefit by the sight, this masterpiece was covered in with a wooden 
frame. Ten years ago they made an iron vessel, but it unfortunately 
sunk when launched.'^ 

1S79. — The ^'Durbin." — The fastest long-distance voyage on 
record was made by the steamer *^ Durbin,'' with telegrams from Zulu- 
land to England, in 1879. She left Table Bay a little before 8 p.m., 
and averaged 298 miles a day to Madeira, where she stopped April 14 
for four and a half hours. She made Plymouth at 6 p.m. on April 
20. The entire distance, about 6000 miles, was run at an average of 
13.1 knots. Faster speed has been made across the Atlantic, but this 
is the best for so long a distance. 

1879. — Steam vs. Sails. — At ihe end of the year 1879 there were 
registered as belonging to the United Kingdom, including the Channel 
Islands, 20,538 sailing-vessels, of 4,068,742 tons, and 5027 steam- 
vessels, of 2,511,733 tons, making in the whole 25,565 vessels, of 
6,579,795 tons, being 24,811 tons more than at the end of the year 
1878. 

The numbers for 1879 compared with those of 1866 show in the 
fourteen years a decline of 5602 in the number of sailing-vessels, and 
of 834,910 tons in the tonnage ; and in steam-vessels an increase of 
2196 in the number, and of 1,635,548 tons in the tonnage. 

The shipping belonging to the United States on the 30th of June, 
1879, was classified as follows: 17,042 sailing-vessels, of 2,422,813 
tons; 4569 steam-vessels, of 1,176,172 tons; 2394 barges, of 466,878 
tons; and 1206 canal-boats, etc., of 103,721 tons; total, 25,211 vessels 
of all kinds, and tonnage, 4,169,584 tons. 

How rapidly steam has superseded wind as the motive-power of 
ships on the Atlantic is shown in the statement of exports of grain in 
bushels from New York, from January 1 to October 31, for five years, 
— viz. : 

Year. Steam. Sail. 

1878 28,151,191 47,493,409 

1879 33,847,952 52,046,708 

1880. , 43,955,065 57,203,079 

1881 46,212,288 17,738,421 

1882 34,500,000 5,200,000 

i6'7P.— The " Solano.'^ — The largest ferry-boat in the world was 
given a trial December 1, 1879, at San Francisco, and behaved satis- 
factorily in every respect. The " Solano'^ was built for the transpor- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 269 

tation of passenger- and freight-cars across the Straits of Carquinez 
from Port Costa to Benicia. Her dimensions are : Length over all, 
424 feet ; length on bottom (she has no keel), 406 feet ; height of sides 
in centre, 18 feet 5 inches; height of sides on each end, from bottom 
of boat, 15 feet 10 inches; molded beam, 64 fQQ.i) extreme width over 
guards, 116 feet; width of guards at centre of boat, 25 feet 6 inches; 
reverse, sheer of deck, 2 J feet. She has two vertical-beam engines of 
60-inch bore and 11-inch stroke, built at Wilmington, Delaware. The 
engines have a nominal power of 1500 horses each, but are capable of 
being worked up to 2000 horse-power each. Upon the deck of the 
" Solano" are four railroad tracks extending her entire length, with a 
capacity of carrying forty-eight loaded freight-cars, or twenty-four 
passenger-coaches of the largest class. Her four rudders are worked 
by an hydraulic steering-gear, operated by an independent steam-pump. 
They are also connected with the ordinary steering-gear, so that, in case 
of any disarrangement of the hydraulic apparatus, the vessel may be 
guided by it. The advantage is that this immense craft can be handled 
by one man, whereas, if the ordinary wheel and system of steering 
were used, six men would be required at the wheel. 

1880. — Chinese Enterprise. — In 1874 fifty British steamers 
were profitably engaged in the local trades in Chinese waters. That 
year the natives organized the China Merchants^ Steam Navigation 
Company, with the imperial consent and support. The first year the 
company had six steamers in operation. The next year four were 
added, and in 1877 the company's fleet numbered sixteen vessels. A 
fierce competition was waged with foreign companies, during which 
rates were cut from fifty to seventy per cent, of the former amounts. 
The result was that the foreign "Shanghai Steam Navigation Company" 
was killed, and its twenty-six vessels and wharf property were bought 
by the native company. The aggressive policy thus begun has been 
continued, until now the Chinese look to a general navigation of the 
high seas, and in August, 1880, the " Hongchong," one of the original 
six vessels of the China Merchants' Company, entered the harbor of 
San Francisco. China enjoys the cheapest labor on the planet ; has 
enormous coal-fields and large iron deposits; and a firm of British 
builders have decided to transfer their capital to China, with a view to 
beginning the work of ship-building, for which so abundant materials 
and advantageous conditions for labor exist. Japan is acting with like 
vigor, and has already several steam lines in operation. 

1880. — A Remarkable Voyage of a Wrecked Steamer. — 
On July 14, 1880, the Chilian transport " Rimac," an iron screw- 
steamer of twelve hundred and twenty-seven tons, carrying a regiment 
of cavalry and a valuable cargo, was captured by the Peruvian corvette 
" Union" and taken to Callao. After the Peruvian defeat at Chorillos 
and Miraflores the " Rimac" was burned and sunk. The hulk was 



270 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

raised by the Chilians, and, although severely damaged, it was found 
that it could be rendered serviceable, and that the machinery was only 
slightly injured. Every particle of wood- work was burned out of her, 
and she presented more the appearance of an empty fire-worn stove than 
of a vessel with which the sea could be navigated. The deck-beams were 
cracked and twisted as if they had been thin iron wires ; some stanchions 
still stood upright, but more had assumed shapes which would have 
astonished any ship-builder, and the bulwarks were bulged in and out, 
and shriveled as if they had been run through some powerful crimp- 
ing-machine. Damaged as she was, it was the desire of the Chilian 
government, whose prize she had become, and of the South American 
Company, who had become her purchasers, that she should be taken 
back to Chili, and Captain James Hart was called upon for an opinion 
as to the possibility of taking her to Chili. He reported favorably, 
although declaring there was much risk, and the voyage was agreed 
upon. Only the most absolute and trivial repairs were effected, and, 
after the sides had been boarded up to prevent her filling, this damaged 
iron tank — for it could scarcely be called a vessel — took its departure 
from Callao. The machinery worked well. But as the engines were 
intended to drive a heavy vessel, and they were now employed in pro- 
pelling a light and unladen hull, they were too powerful for their 
work. They drove it along at a good speed, it is true, but the vibra- 
tion caused thereby was severe in the extreme. Very heavy weather 
was encountered, and, as the vessel would dip into the sea so it would 
strike her abeam, the water would rush into the hold, threatening to 
swamp her, and keeping the pumps constantly at work. All hands 
were wet through the entire trip, no cabins having been put up. Several 
of the damaged deck-beams broke, through the severe straining of the 
sides, and one day the remains of the bridge tumbled into the hold, 
carrying with it the binnacle and the wheel, which had been tem- 
porarily fixed up. The compass w^as useless, it being impossible to 
place reliance in it owing to the vibration causing the needle to revolve 
the whole time. Steering was done by guesswork, the direction of the 
sea, which runs from the southward, and the heavens serving as a sub- 
stitute. The voyage fortunately was performed in safety, and the 
wreck was finally moored to Valparaiso. The distance from Callao to 
Valparaiso is fifteen hundred and fifty-eight miles, head to wind all 
the time. The '' Rimac" is now being repaired, and within a few 
months she will, be again ready for sea. 

1880. — The ''Comet" on Lake Biglee. — A new pleasure- 
steamer, called the " Comet,'' was built for Lake Bigler in 1880. It 
was exclusively for the use of passengers and pleasure-parties, and 
made the trip around the lake in a day. It was fitted up in splendid 
style. 

1880.— Tim "Three Brothers.''— In 1880 the well-known 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 271 

American ship " Three Brothers/' forroerly the steamship " Yander- 
bilt/' and the largest sailing merchant-vessel afloat, was sold to mer- 
chants in Liverpool for eight thousand pounds, and she will hereafter 
sail under the British flag. 

1880. — A Mountain Steamer. — Steam navigation among the 
mountain ranges of Colorado is one of the peculiarities of that won- 
derful region. A Denver paper says, " A sail over the placid and 
transhicent wateis of Twin Lakes will convince the traveler that Colo- 
rado affords some of the most beautiful aquatic scenery in nature. 
Twin Lakes are located three miles from Twin Lake Station, Denver 
and South Park Division, Union Pacific Railway, or one hundred and 
fifty-seven miles southwest of Denver, at the eastern base of the Sa- 
wache Range, at an elevation of nine thousand three hundred and 
thirty-three feet above the level of the sea. The lower lake covers 
fifteen hundred and twenty-five, and the upper four hundred and 
seventy-five acres, and they are united by a small, swift, clear stream, 
about half a mile in length, which winds through grassy meadows 
studded with scattering shade-trees, affording delightful picnic- or camp- 
grounds. On the north stands Mount Elbert, fourteen thousand three 
hundred and sixty feet above the sea, or five thousand and twenty- 
seven feet above the lakes. Directly opposite (at the south side of the 
lakes) are the Twin Peaks, also giants of the Rocky chain. The sheets 
are, therefore, thoroughly mountain-locked.'^ The paper above quoted 
says the little steamer plying on Twin Lakes " has the distinguished 
honor of being nearer to heaven than any other craft in the wide, wide 
world.'' 

Ships that were never heard from. — The following Euro- 
pean steamers have never been heard from after leaving port : The 
"President," sailed from New York, March 11, 1841; had among 
her passengers Tyrone Power, the famous Irish comedian, and a son 
of the Duke of Richmond. The '^ City of Glasgow," never heard 
from after leaving Glasgow in the spring of 1854; four hundred and 
eighty lives lost. The " Pacific," never heard from after January 23, 
1856, when she left Liverpool; two hundred lives lost. The "Tem- 
pest," never heard from after she left New York, Feburary 26, 1857. 
The "City of Boston," left New York January 25, 1860; about one 
hundred and sixty lives lost. The " Ismailia" left New York, Sep- 
tember 26, 1878, and was never heard from. 

1880. — A Canal-Boat propelled by Air.-^A novelty in 
canal-boats in Charles River, Massachusetts, attracted considerable 
attention in 1880. It was called a " pneumatic canal-boat, and was 
built at Wiscasset, Maine, as devised by the owner, R. H. Tucker, of 
Boston, who held patents for its design in England and the United 
States. The boat shown on Charles River, designed to be used on 
canals without injuring the banks, was a simple structure, sixty-two i^Qt 



272 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

loDg, twenty feet wide, three feet in depth, and drew seventeen inches 
of water. It was driven entirely by air, Root's blower No. 4 being 
used, and was operated by an eight horse-power engine. The air was 
forced down a central shaft to the bottom, where it was deflected, and, 
being confined between the keels, passed backward and upward, es- 
caping at the stern through an orifice nineteen feet wide, so as to form 
an air wedge between the boat and the surface of the water. The 
force with which the air struck the water propelled the boat at a speed 
of four miles an hour, but required a thirty-five horse-power engine to 
develop its full capabilities. The patentee claimed a great advantage 
in dispensing with the heavy machinery of screws and side-wheels, 
and believed that his contrivance gave full results in proportion to the 
power employed. It was also contrived for backing and steering by 
air propulsion. Owing to the slight disturbance it caused to the w^ater, 
it was thought very well adapted for work on canals. 

1880. — The First Chinese Steamer to cross the Pacific. 
— On the 31st of August, 1880, the Chinese steamer '^Hochung" 
entered the custom-house of San Francisco, California, paying the 
regular tonnage dues of thirty cents per ton, and one dollar per ton 
extra dues on alien ships, the latter under protest. Extra duties of 
10 per cent! on the cargo were also paid under protest, and the whole 
matter was referred to the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
She was also the first Chinese steamer that ever visited the Hawaiian 
Islands in November, 1879, and carried to Honolulu 431 Chinese 
immigrants. 

A San Francisco paper said of this arrival, under the heading, 
" China's Debut upon the Sea,"— 

" The arrival at San Francisco on the 30th of August of the first Chi- 
nese steamer that has ever crossed the Pacific deserves commemoration. 
This steamer, the * Hochung,' appeared at the Golden Gate, seeking 
admission to a foreign port, nearly forty years after the isolation in 
which for ages China was encased was broken and five of her ports 
were opened to the commerce of the civilized world. The treaty of 
1842, by which this concession was secured to foreign trade, has borne 
fruit slowly ; but the tardiness of the Chinese to undertake maritime 
enterprises is due not so much to their love of seclusion as to the diffi- 
culty of acquiring the art of navigation. This art is, and ever has 
been, one of the later acquisitions of nations. ... It is no wonder, 
therefore, that the Chinese have taken forty years to master the nau- 
tical skill requisite for the accomplishment of this feat. But the 
beginning of ocean traffic is now made ; and this field of commercial 
competition once fairly broken, there is reason to hope the Orientals 
will find it profitable. ... In this maritime enterprise they are fa- 
vored by the immense coal-supply of the Middle Kingdom. Baron 
Bichthofen, who carefully examined the coal-fields of China, says it is 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 273 

' amoDg the most favored countries of the world as regards the dis- 
tribution of mineral fuel/ This able geographer computes from his 
own inspection that the ^ quantity of very superior coal available for 
cheap extraction is so large that, at the present rate of consumption, 
the world could be supplied from Shansi alone for several thousand 
years/ This vast coal-bed is reached by the Yang-tse-Kiang (river), 
China's great commercial highway, navigable for large vessels twelve 
hundred miles from its mouth, and easily ascended by ocean steamers 
as far as Hankow, seven hundred miles from the sea. With such 
magnificent deposits of mineral fuel suited for use on steam-vessels, 
the day is not distant when the Chinese, renowned for ages as dexterous 
mechanics, will be able with a little nautical training to carve out a 
bright maritime future for their nation." 

A telegraphic dispatch, dated London, December 7, 1881, an- 
nounced that " the ^ Meefoo,' the first of a regular line of steamers 
under the Chinese flag, arrived in the Thames with three thousand 
tons of tea." ^ 

1880. — Twin Gain Screws. — Mr. John Taggart, of Boston, in 
1880, invented a method of propelling steamers by two screws, differ- 
ing in almost every particular from the ordinary propeller. These 
screws are described as long, hollow, iron cylinders, with what are 
called '^ gain'' screws with two threads. The threads are near together 
at the bow, and gradually diverge towards the stern, thus giving them 
the name of gain screw. It is claimed a great power is gained by this 
means at once at the bow, and the gradually-increasing width between 
the threads diminishes to a great extent the friction and dead weight 
of the water. The cylinders, being hollow, are very buoyant. The 
journals of these cylinders run in strong yokes projecting from the 
iron heel at the bow and stern. These cylinders are run by an endless 
chain. The threads are large, and answer to the blades of a propeller,, 
but, having a greater surface, give an increased power. It is claimed 
that with these screws a river-boat could be run at the rate of thirty- 
seven miles an hour ; that a tug thus equipped could, with engines of 
the same power, pull ordinary tugs backward, and that an ocean 
steamer could cross the Atlantic in four and a half days. A practical 
test of the invention is proposed by building a tug on this new plan. 

1880. — The tonnage and value of the steamers of the mercantile 
navy of Great Britain in 1880 was, — 

Tons. Value. 

Under 500 tons 339,505 £12 £4,074,060 

From 500 to 2000 1,913,445 20 38,268,900 

From 2000 upward 341,184 25 8,529,600 

Total 2,594,134 £50,872,560 

1 Are not the Chinese now in advance, considering that we, who claim to hold 
the most advanced opinions of the age, exclude their emigrants under the recent 
shameful act of Congress ? 

20 



274 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

This was the value of the vessels completely fitted and provisioned 
for sea, with allowance for the average of the various ages in the dif- 
ferent classes. 

1880. — The "Anthracite/' the smallest steamer that ever crossed 
the Atlantic, arrived at New York in August, 1880, and went thence 
to Philadelphia. She sailed from the latter port on the 23d of August, 
and arrived at Falmouth, England, September 14, after a voyage of 
twenty-two days and fourteen hours. She steamed three thousand 
three hundred and sixteen miles, doing the entire distance with the 
consumption of less than twenty-five tons of coal, steaming thirteen 
hundred and fifty-three miles with only nine tons. The *' Anthracite" 
had a new system of boilers, which, her inventor claimed, would revo- 
lutionize the utilization of steam for propelling vessels. 

The " Anthracite" was built expressly for this Atlantic voyage, to 
show that the difficulty previously encountered in vessels with high- 
pressure engines of retaining steam could be overcome by substituting 
for ordinary piston-packing a metal peculiar to the Perkins system. 
Economy in expenditure of heat and water was also claimed. 

Of the " Anthracite's" eighty-four feet of length, her engines, fur- 
naces, and boilers take up a space of twenty -two feet six inches, leaving 
a hatchway, kitchen, and forecastle-cabin in the forepart of the boat, 
and a water-tight bulkhead. Abaft the engines are three cabins, with 
sleeping-bunks, with a water-tight bulkhead in the stern. The screw 
is of the ordinary fish-tail pattern, with two blades. Her gross ton 
nage is 70.26 tons, and her registered tonnage is 27.91 tons. Her 
average consumption of coal on the voyage from England to New- 
foundland and thence to New York was one ton of Welsh bituminous 
coal a day. The weather was very rough, consequently the sails could 
be little used. The counter registering the revolutions of her screw 
was set at before she left England, and on arrival at New York 
marked three million nine hundred and eighty thousand. In the 
voyage over the natural draught of the furnace only was used, but she 
has a fan-blower, which can be brought into use if increased consump- 
tion of fuel and a high pressure of steam are desired. 

The peculiarity of the machinery which effects the economy of fuel 
lies in the means employed for using steam at very high pressure 
safely, and without undue wear and strain. The average boiler press- 
ure on the voyage over was from three hundred and fifty to four hun- 
dred pounds to the square inch, but the boilers had been tested up to two 
thousand five hundred pounds per square inch by hydraulic pressure. 
The body of the boiler consists of a series of horizontal tubes, welded 
up at each end, and connected together by a vertical tube, and the 
several sections are connected by a verticle tube to the top ring of the 
fire-box, and by another to the steam-collecting tube. The fire-box is 
formed of tubes bent into a rectangular shape. The boiler is sur- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 275 

rounded by a double casing of thin sheet-iron, filled between with non- 
conducting material to prevent loss of heat. The cylinders and valve- 
boxes are steam-jacketed, and further protected by jackets of non-con- 
ducting material, so that, although all the parts are kept at a high 
temperature, the heat given out in the engine and fire-room is much 
less than is usual in ordinary marine engines. 

The difficulty from friction and imperfect joints in practically 
working machinery at high pressures was one of the serious obstacles 
encountered in developing this system. After a series of experiments, 
the inventor adopted an antifriction alloy, of which the packing-rings 
and internal rubbing surfaces are made. No lubrication is required 
beyond that furnished by the steam. He states that cylinders fitted with 
piston-rings made of this metal have been several years at work, show- 
ing no signs of wear, the only wear occurring on the rings, which can 
be easily and cheaply replaced. Not only is the cost of oil and grease 
saved, but the destructive action on the machinery and boiler of the 
acids generated from lubricants is avoided. 

For the use of steam at these high pressures three diflPerent-sized 
cylinders are employed, all jacketed with spiral tubes cast in the metal, 
which are supplied with steam direct from the boilers, and keep up the 
temperature of the cylinders. The cylinders are arranged one above 
the other, and their pistons are connected to a common piston-rod. 
The operation is thus described by Mr. Loftus Perkins, the inventor, 
in a paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 
London : 

" The high-pressure steam is introduced into the upper end of the 
first cylinder, where there is no gland, and where the piston is formed 
so as to require no lubricating material. The steam is cut oif at half- 
stroke in this cylinder, and when admitted for the return-stroke into 
the bottom of the second cylinder, of four times the area, the temper- 
ature is so much reduced as to cause no difficulty when brought into 
contact with the piston-rod gland. From the bottom of the second 
cylinder the steam expands into the top of the same cylinder, which is 
of larger capacity than the bottom, and serves as a chamber, and is in 
direct communication with the valve-box of the third cylinder. This 
last is double-acting, and is arranged to cut off at about a quarter- 
stroke, and at the termination of the stroke exhausts into the condenser, 
with an expansion of about thirty-two times." 

It is some years since Mr. Perkins began to advocate the merits of 
this system, and he has taken out many patents connected therewith, 
but the difficulties attending its practical working, and the disposition 
to oppose it by those who had large sums invested in old style ma- 
chinery, have, it is asserted, prevented its general adoption, although in 
several cases in England it has been successfully introduced. The 
boilers and engines of the " Anthracite" contain all the latest improve- 



276 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

ments of the inventor, and are thought to afford a practical demonstra- 
tion of the entire success of the Perkins system, and show how all 
stationary and marine engines can be run at an expense of less than 
one-half the present cost for fuel. 

Two and a half pounds of coal per horse-power per hour is con- 
sidered very economical running, and some of our best-managed ocean 
steamers use one hundred tons of coal a day in their voyage. To 
demonstrate the practicability of reducing this more than one-half, 
thereby not only saving the cost of fuel, but giving more space for 
freight, was the purpose of the visit of the " Anthracite'' to American 
waters. 

I88O.—F1RBT Steamboat on the Upper Delaware. — The 
steamboat " Kittatinny,'' the first that ever reached Port Jervis, New 
York, arrived at Delaware Water Gap April 28, 1880, without acci- 
dent, having run the fifty miles in less than five hours. This steam- 
boat was sixty feet long, fourteen feet wide, and carried seventy per- 
sons, the navigation of the Upper Delaware being thus proved feasible 
by steam. Great excitement prevailed throughout the region traversed, 
and hundreds of persons flocked to see the boat. 

1881. — The "Harriet Lane." — The United States revenue 
steam-cutter "Harriet Lane," built in 1859 for that service, was 
placed at the disposal of the Prince of Wales during his visit to this 
country, and at the outbreak of the Rebellion was turned over to the 
Navy Department. On New Year's night, 1863, her decks were the 
scene of one of the most desperate hand-to-hand encounters of the 
war, when her captain and first lieutenant were killed. Transformed 
into a sailing bark, and named the " Elliott Ritchie," this famous craft 
was peacefully lying at Philadelphia awaiting a cargo, December 10, 
1881. 

1881. — The "Dessoug." — The steamer "Dessoug," which con- 
veyed Cleopatra's Needle from Egypt to New York, was built in 
England, and was for years used as a trader until the Khedive of 
Egypt bought and converted her into a yacht. Purchased for the 
purpose of bringing the obelisk to America, she was sold and altered 
and rebuilt as a freight steamer for the New York and Savannah 
cotton trade. 

1881. — An Hydraulic Ship, built in Germany in 1881, on her 
trial accomplished nine knots an hour. Two hundred years before 
that the experiment was made of propelling vessels by expelling water 
from the stern, and failed, as sufficient speed was not attained. This 
new method is based on the assumption that the propelling force 
depends on the contact of surfaces, and not on the sectional area of the 
flowing mass, so a number of tubes with narrow outlets are used instead 
of one large tube. 

1881. — A Novel Propelling Power. — A steam-yacht with a 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 277 

novel propelling power was built in 1881. Instead of a screw, as in 
ordinary propellers, there is a flat blade of iron under the rudder at right 
angles to the keel. This blade was hinged in the centre. The blade 
worked backward and forward on a hollow shaft, with a stroke of 
three feet forward and aft. As the blade moves forward under the 
overhang of the vessel, by means of an inside shaft, it shuts up, and 
makes no resistance to the water. When it goes back again it opens, 
and virtually pushes the water astern. As the engine can work the 
blade with a stroke of one hundred and twenty to the minute, it is 
calculated that extraordinary speed will be attained. The yacht is 
about thirty feet long over all, and is provided with a patent engine 
resembling a pump-engine, with a pump-cylinder. The propelling- 
blade or pusher is three feet in length and fifteen inches wide. 

1881. — The " Moxakch.^^ — The first freight steamer to engage 
in the interoceanic trade arrived at San Francisco in 1881. She left 
Barrow, England, on the 31st of August, 1881, and stopping to coal 
at the Cape Yerde Islands, and at Coronel, on the West Coast of South 
America, arrived at San Francisco on the 8th of September, having 
been sixty-nine days on the passage. She had as freight on her voyage 
2000 tons of steel rails, and it was the result of the desire of railroad 
builders on the Pacific slope to get the equipments needed as speedily 
as possible. The shipment might have been made by a sailing vessel 
at not over §5 per ton, but in this case it is understood ^16.75 were 
paid, making the shipment cost, when landed, over $20,000 more than 
would have been the case under ordinary conditions. The ^'Monarch" 
was chartered before her arrival in San Francisco to carry a load of 
grain to Liverpool, at £3 17s. 6d. per ton, a trifle over that paid to 
sailing vessels when the contract was made. Premising that the 
steamer carries the same weight of grain she has of rails, her gross 
freight money would amount to about $72,000 for the round voyage. 
Out of this, deducting the money paid for coal, and assuming that she 
consumed twenty-five tons of fuel each day, which would cost, when 
on board, not less, on an average, than $10 per ton, — not a high valu- 
ation, considering that the coal was taken in large part at outlying 
stations, — and that she steamed on the round voyage one hundred and 
twenty-eight days, this would amount to $32,000, leaving $40,000 for 
ordinary running expenses and profits. A sailing vessel, which carried 
an equal amount of cargo would, with freight-rates as they have been, 
obtain for making the same round trip $22 per ton, which would give 
a gross freight of $44,000, or ten per cent, more than the sum made 
by the steamer after deducting coal charges. The saving to the steamer 
would be that she could make five round voyages while a sailing vessel 
was making three. But it must be^emembered that steamers are not likely 
to have the same favorable outward freight offered to them. If they 
can only command 2s. 6d. more per ton than sailing vessels in carry- 



278 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



ing a perishable article like grain from San Francisco, it is safe to 
assume, that as a rule, they will not get more than the slower craft for 
carrying steel rails or other outward cargo. The conclusion to be drawn 
is that for the present steamers cannot profitably compete with sailing 
vessels on such a long route as that between California and Europe. 

1881. — Cost of Ocean Steamships in England. — The fol- 
lowing were the prices per ton paid for screw steamers built, equipped, 
and ready for sea in 1881 by builders on the Mersey, Clyde, and east 
coast of England, suited to the trade indicated; and the enormous 
losses by wreck and foundering have resulted in a sober second thought ; 
and the lead-pencil type model, long and narrow, says an English 
paper, is giving place to more beam. The length and contracted 
breadth, with a profusion of water ballast, is compelled to give place 
to more beam and greater stability : 



Trade. Class. 
Cakgo Steamers : 

Adapted for general Atlantic 

trade 100 A 1 

Especially fitted for cattle . . 100 A 1 

Especially fitted for cattle . . 100 A 1 

For general and cattle trade . 20 years L 

Three-decked rule 100 A 1 

Spar deck 20 years L 

And passengers if required . 100 A 1 
Also suitable for cattle . . . 100 A 1 
... 100 A 1 
" " ... 100 A 1 
But easily arranged for pas- 
sengers 100 A 1 

Awning deck especially built 

for cotton 100 A 1 

Awning deck especially built 

for cotton 100 A 1 

Spar deck for Atlantic trade . 100 A 1 & 20 

years L. 





Consumption 




Net 


Knots 


of coal, 


Price, 


Tonnage. 


per hour. 


24 hours. 
Tons. 


U.S. Gold. 


1484 


10.5 


28 


$167,894 


2000 


m 


36 


214,126 




11 


24 


223,859 


2000 


10^ 


25 


243,325 


1500 


10 


27 


170,327 


1370 


10 


16 


175,194 


1349 


91 


20 


160,594 


1130 


n 


17 


128,962 


1090 


9 


12 


131,395 


910 


9 


10 


107,063 


916 


9i 


12 


105,603 


1270 


9f 


13 


145,995 


2060 


18 


35 


291,990 


1747 


11 


28 


184,927 



1881. — The Largest Torpedo-Boat afloat in 1881 was built 
in England for the Danish government by Messrs. Thornycroft & Co. 
Her displacement was fifty-five tons, or forty per cent, more than that 
of the largest torpedo-boats in the British service ; but her dimensions 
were still within the limit which would permit her to be conveyed by 
rail from one part of the coast to another. Her armament consisted 
of four of the largest Whitehead torpedoes, each of which carried a 
charge of eighty pounds of gun-cotton, and, in addition, she mounted a 
Hotchkiss revolving gun. She had a coal capacity of ten tons, esti- 
mated as equivalent to 1200 miles, at a speed of eleven knots, and her 
full speed, as shown at the trial, as well as during a run of three 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 279 

hours at the measured miles, was twenty knots, which was two knots 
in excess of the stipulation. 

1S81, — The " Desteoyer/^ — The first public exhibition of Cap- 
tain Ericsson's torpedo-boat, " Destroyer," was made at Hoboken, 
November 14, 1881. Several prominent officers of the army and 
navy were present. The chief object of the exhibition was to demon- 
strate the practical working of the submerged gun, by which the tor- 
pedo missile is sent upon its deadly errand ; also to show the ability of 
the torpedo to penetrate protective net-work around a fleet or a single 
ironclad. 

A dummy projectile of wood was used without a torpedo charge. 
In the test the dummy was discharged from the cannon by the use of 
twelve pounds of giant powder at a target net of Manilla rope and 
wooden slats three hundred feet distant. The muzzle was six feet and 
six inches below the surface, and the projectile passed through the 
target five feet under water, appeared on the surface one hundred feet 
further in shore, and rode on the water at a considerable speed for two 
hundred feet more, making a distance of six hundred feet traveled in 
all. The projectile, which was twenty-five inches in length, traveled 
through the water to the point of appearance on the surface, four hun- 
dred feet, in three seconds, and this with a charge of but twelve pounds 
of powder. The gun is fired by electricity by the wheelsman, who, 
through his lookout, must aim and discharge the gun in accordance 
with his best judgment as to effectiveness. The experiment was 
under the direction of V. F. Lassoe. It was the fifty-second time the 
gun had fired the projectile, and at no trial since the boat has been put 
in working order has it failed with the same charge to throw the 
dummy torpedo three hundred feet in three seconds or less. The 
French officers were especially interested in the experiment, and though 
they at first pronounced it an impossibility to operate a gun constructed 
on such principles, and with submerged muzzle, successfully, they were 
obliged to acknowledge that the theory had proved correct. Aston- 
ishment was depicted in every line of their countenances when they 
saw the projectile rise to the surface beyond the target, after having 
traversed the distance from the muzzle of the gun and through the 
netting without making even the faintest ripple on the surface. 

In actual service the torpedo projectile is to carry three hundred 
and forty pounds of dynamite, — enough to destroy the largest ironclad. 
The gun will be discharged with a force sufficient to carry the pro- 
jectile from three hundred to seven hundred feet through the 
water. 

1881,— Thu Fall River Line.— The ''Bristol" and "Provi- 
dence," of the Fall River Line of Sound steamers between Boston and 
New York, for size, proportions, and general magnificence of appoint- 
ments have attracted the attention and admiration of travelers from 



280 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

every portion of the world. They are 373 feet long, 83 feet beam, 
3000 tons register, and cost $1,250,000 each. During the Centennial 
season, 1876, the passengers carried in safety and comfort by these 
mammoth steamships were numbered by hundreds of thousands. Over 
one thousand persons frequently made the trip in one of these steamers 
without discomfort or crowding. The fresco-work and gilding of the 
interior is elegant and elaborate, the shading and coloring having a 
most harmonious and beautiful effect. The main saloons, galleries, 
and cabins are carpeted richly and tastefully, and the furniture ele- 
gantly upholstered. All the state-rooms are connected with the main 
office by electric bells. Some idea of the size of their engines may be 
formed when it is stated that the Corliss engine, which attracted so 
much attention at the Centennial, was not one-half the size nor had 
one-half the capacity of the engines on either the " Bristol" or " Provi- 
dence.'^ In provisions for safety the arrangements are perfect. Every 
portion of the boats where fire is used is absolutely fire-proof, and 
each steamer is provided with all the improved life-saving appli- 
ances. 

The "Pilgrim,'^ the new steamer launched August, 1882, from 
Roach's yard for this line has 300 state-rooms and accommodations for 
1000 passengers, and is J 5 feet longer and 4 feet wider than the 
" Bristol.'' She is 384 feet long over all ; 370 feet long at water-line ; 
87 feet wide over guards, and 17 feet 6 inches deep at sides. Her 
double hulls are divided into 96 water-tight compartments, bearing a 
pressure of 5 pounds per square inch. Steam is supplied from four Red- 
field boilers, and there is one immense beam-engine, having a cylinder 
110 inches in diameter, with 14 feet stroke. This cylinder was cast at 
Mr. Roach's Morgan Iron Works, in New York, and is said to be the 
largest cylinder ever cast in this country. It required 45 tons of gun- 
metal, which it took three hours and ten minutes to melt. The 90,000 
pounds were then transferred by the labor of 100 men to two huge 
tank-ladles, each with a capacity of about 14 tons, and having two 
large crane-handles. The tanks were connected with the mould by 
pipes, and the crane-handles were attached to huge cranes. The 
mould was filled, under Mr. Roach's personal supervision, in two and 
a half minutes, the molten metal roaring like a wild beast, and 
emitting showers of twenty colors. It required about ten days for the 
metal to thoroughly cool, and for several days it remained red-hot. 
When perfectly solidified the upper part of the mould was demolished, 
and the cylinder dug from its resting-place in the ground. The two 
main shafts for this engine are 40 feet long and 27 inches in diameter, 
forged from wrought iron, and each weighing 85,000 pounds. 

1881. — Steamship Disasters. — As the tonnage of the merchant 
steam marine increases, so do disasters of steam-vessels grow. The 
records of 1881 show the disasters to steam-vessels for the year to 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 281 

have been 198. A dozen of these were repaired and put into service, 
but nearly all were total wrecks. A few were also sunk at their piers 
through carelessness while loading or discharging cargoes, as in the 
case of the ^' Braunschweig/^ loading coal in the harbor at Bremen. 
Others were stranded and floated off without receiving damage. In- 
cluded in the record for 1881 is the loss of the Polar expedition 
steamer '^ Jeanriette,'' in the Arctic Ocean. 

The record for 1881 shows 141 of the disasters were to British 
steamships; 15 were American; 6 French; 6 Danish; 5 German; 3 
Dutch ; 4 Swedish ; 1 Brazilian ; 3 Belgian ; 4 Spanish ; 2 Chilian ; 
Mexican, Chinese, Austrian, Japanese, and Norwegian, 1 each ; of 3 
the nationality could not be learned. Of these, 4 were of steel, 5 of 
wood, and the remainder iron vessels. The total tonnage lost in 1881 
was 200,000 tons, 151,041 tons of which were British ; 11,568 Amer- 
ican; 4390 Dutch; 2488 Swedish; 1000 Brazilian; 6486 French; 
4643 Belgian; 3274 Danish; 4562 German; 4177 Spanish; 680 
Mexican; 1233 Chinese; 808 Austrian; 947 Japanese; 697 Nor- 
wegian, and 1750 Chilian. Of the disasters, 99 vessels were stranded; 
30 sunk by collision ; 40 foundered; 7 burned; 11 are missing; 6 
were abandoned at sea ; 2 were sunk by ice ; 1 broken in two, and 1 
was destroyed by explosion. Eleven of the vessels were laden with 
grain ; 23 with coal, 11 with iron; 2 with cotton, and 1 each with 
copper ore, petroleum, provisions, wool, and sugar. 

The greatest number of disasters were in October; the records for 
that month are unprecedented, the total number lost being 32, of 
which 18 were British; France, Germany, and Norway lost 2 each; 
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chili, Holland, Russia, Spain, and Sweden, 
1 each. It is estimated that no less than 43,033 tons of produce were 
lost in the October gales. 

The steamship " Bath City'' foundered off Newfoundland, Decem- 
ber 3, 1881, and the sufferings of the crew were terrible. Sighted on 
November 30, two hundred and fifty miles from the port of St. John's, 
Newfoundland, by a steamship which could have assisted her into 
port, she was left mastless, rudderless, and leaking, to her fate, which 
came three days afterwards. The vessel went to the bottom, and the 
crew were launched on the stormy ocean in their life-boats. Four 
were drowned by the capsizing of one of the boats, and six, including 
the captain, perished from cold and exposure. The other castaways, 
having suffered three days and nights in these open boats, were 
rescued. 

1881. — British Steamship Subsidies. — The report of the British 
post-ofQce for the year ended March 31, 1881, states the sums paid to 
various steamship companies for the conveyance of the ocean mails, 
together with the receipts from ocean postages and the net payments 
under the several contracts during that year, was as follows : 



282 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



Countries. 


Contract Compen- 
sation. 


Receipts from 
Postages. 


Net Payment by the 
Government. 


East Indies, China, and Japan . . 
East Coast of Africa ....... 

United States 


£356,9001 
30,000 
65,311 
17,500 

84,782 
7,969 

£562,462 

Estimated 


£60,000 

600 

38,000 

1,000 

35,000 

6,000 

£140,500 


£208,000 
29,500 
27,000 
16,500 
50,000 
1,900 

£332,900 


Halifax, Bermuda, and St. Thomas 

West Indies 

West Coast of Africa 



For the service in the English Channel, between Dover and Calais, 
the sum of £11,274 were paid for the same year; aod for the service 
in the Irish Channel, between Holyhead and Kingstown, £85,000 
were expended, a sum equal to more than one-quarter of the total 
net payment by the government for its ocean postal service. 

The service to Brazil coast the government nothing, the postage 
earned having been sufficient for the compensation asked for. Nearly 
the whole of the expenditure specified was made for the maintenance 
of postal communication within the limits of the British empire. 
Besides which several of the colonial governments are under contract 
with steamship companies for their own immediate ocean mail service. 

Austrian Steamers. — The first Austrian Lloyd steamer for 
New York sailed from Trieste, January 25, 1881. She was to touch 
at Messina, Palermo, Barcelona, Malaga, Cadiz, and Lisbon, and had 
on board a full cargo, 600 tons of it being for New York. 

1882. — " The Peace." — A missionary steamer, whose hull and 
machinery weighed only six tons, was recently moored in the Thames, 
near London. The vessel was named '^ Peace,'^ and was built for the 
Baptist Missionary Society, who destined it for the service of the mis- 
sion in the upper reaches of the Congo River. The boat could be 
taken to pieces rapidly for transport purposes, and the total number 
of pieces, none of which were too heavy for a man to carry, were eight 
hundred. The greatest possible use was made of all available space, 
and the two cabins were admirably fitted. A kitchen adapted for a 
stove and other cooking appliances formed part of the equipment. A 
substantial awning covered the deck, and between this and the sides 
of the vessel a wire awning was fitted to stop arrows and other missiles. 
It was intended to take the steamer to pieces and pack the sections in 
boxes, which would be sent to the mouth of the Congo. From thence 
they were to be borne by eight hundred men three hundred miles up 
to Stanley Pool, where the steamer would be reconstructed by the mis- 
sionaries. 

1882.— Tb.^ " Colossus."— The latest addition to the* British 



Of this amount, £88,000 were contributed by the government of British India. 



. HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 283 

royal navy is the double-screw steel armor-plate turret-ship " Co- 
lossus/' launched at Portsmouth, March 21, 1882. She is of 9146 
tons burden, and her engines are of 6000 horse-power, — a striking 
advance upon Fulton's " Clermont,'' the wonder of three-quarters of a 
century ago. 

The "Colossus" has been in process of construction for some 
eight years past, but the work on her has been seriously pressed only 
since 1879. She is a twin-screw turret-ship, with a central armored 
citadel, her principal dimensions being : total length between the per- 
pendiculars, 325 feet ; extreme breadth, Q^ feet ; with a displace- 
ment of 9146 tons. Considerable delay has been experienced with 
respect to the turrets, which cannot be proceeded with until the nature 
of their armament is determined. It is probable that each turret will 
be armed with two of the new 46-ton breech-loading rifle-guns. A 
novel feature in the armament of the ship will be the mounting of 
four 6-inch guns on the top of the after superstructure, and a couple 
of guns on the forward superstructure, with rifle-proof covering-boards 
for the protection of the gunners. 

The vessel is to be fitted with a manganese bronze propeller, in 
place of the one of gun-metal originally ordered. This decision was 
arrived at after a series of comparative experiments made with the two 
metals. Bars of both metals, one inch square, were placed on supports 
twelve inches apart, and first subjected to a steady pressure applied in 
the middle of the bars, and afterwards to impact, by a weight of fifty 
pounds falling from a height of five ^QQi. With a steady pressure the 
gun-metal bars slipped between the supports or broke with a strain of 
twenty-eight hundred-weight, while the manganese bronze bars re- 
quired fifty-four hundred-weight to break them. Tested by impact, 
the gun-metal bars broke with from seven to eight blows, when it 
took from thirteen to seventeen blows to break the manganese bronze 
bars. The ultimate bend of the latter was also in both cases more 
than that of the gun-metal, thus showing fully double the strength, 
with superior toughness. The advantages claimed for the manga- 
nese bronze over gun-metal are, first, a considerable saving of actual 
weight of machinery; and, secondly, that it enables a thinner and 
consequently a better blade to be made, offering less resistance to 
the water, and equaling in strength the gun-metal blade of greater 
dimensions. 

Since the launch of the '' Colossus" another ironclad, to be called 
the " Rodney," has been laid down and commenced at the Chatham 
Dock- Yard. She is to be a barbette ship, and will carry ten heavy 
guns. Her length between the perpendiculars is 325 feet ; extreme 
breadth, Q^ feet ; depth of hold, 28 feet 2J inches. She is to have 
engines of 7000 horse-power, and will have a gross tonnage of 9158 
tons. 



284 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

1882. — The " Duncan" and the " Camperdown." — The Eng- 
lish government, having determined to build two ironclads which will 
match the Italian ironclad '^ Duilio/' on the 26th of September, 1882, 
the Admiralty ordered the construction of two ships, to be named 
"Duncan" and " Camperdown," of the following dimensions : Length, 
330 feet; extreme breadth, 63 feet 6 inches; displacement, 10,000 
tons on a mean draught of water of 26 feet 9 inches. These new ships 
are to have twin screws, with engines of 9800 horse-power, estimated 
to give a speed of 16 knots an hour, being an excess of two knots 
over the Italian turret ship. The " Duilio" is 341 feet long. Her 
extreme beam, 64 feet 9 inches, and displacement, 10,434; her engines 
being of 7500 indicated horse-power. The armor of the English 
ships will be carried to a depth of 5 feet below the water-line, with a 
protecting belt rising 2 feet 6 inches above the water-line, the armor 
comprising compound plates of the following thickness : side, 18 
inches; bulkhead, 16 inches; barbette towers, 14 and 12 inches. They 
will have vertical ventilation by tubes from the flying to the lower 
decks. As at present determined upon, their armaments will each 
consist of four 63-ton breech-loading rifle guns, and six 6-inch breech- 
loading guns, with a number of Nordenfelts and Gatlings, and White- 
head torpedoes. They are to carry 900 tons of coal, and their com- 
plements will consist of 450 officers and men. Their cost is estimated 
to be not less than £1,000,000 sterling each, or two-thirds of the 
amount which is appropriated for the annual expenditure for the whole 
navy of the United States. 

1882. — New French Ironclads. — As a result of a number of 
experiments lately carried out in France with armor plates of a variety 
of patterns, and obtained from various sources, both French and 
foreign, a contract has been concluded between the Minister of Marine 
and the managers of the Creusot Works for the supply by the latter 
of the armor for the " Formidable" and the ^^ Capitaine Baudin," two 
new ironclads of 11,441 tons each, or of almost exactly the same size as 
the English '^Inflexible;" the displacement of the latter being 11,406 
tons. The plates are to be 22 inches thick at the strongest, and 14 
inches thick at the weakest part of the armor ; and consequently the 
new French vessels will be defensively stronger than any English 
ironclad at present either afloat or being built. The Creusot firm is 
also at the present time supplying the armor plates for the ^' Terrible," 
a vessel of 7184 tons, and for the " Furieux," a ship of 5695 tons; 
the plates for both the vessels being nearly 20 inches thick. 

1882. — Among the costly steamers built at Pittsburg, Pa., in 
1882, none possess more points of interest than the " Chattahoochee." 
Her hull is the first constructed entirely of steel in this country. Steel 
hulls have been built in Pittsburg, but in these the braces, angles, 
etc., were of iron. In the ^' Chattahoochee" steel is solely used. The 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION, 285 

steel plates used vary from a " light'^ three-sixteenth inch in thickness 
up to one-fourth inch, according to their locality in the hull. The 
contract for the boat was let to the Duquesne Engine Works, by the 
People^s Line, of Columbus, Ga., for $47,000. The trade calls for a 
boat of light draught, strength, and speed, and these seem all embodied 
in the ^^ Chattahoochee." Her hull is 158 feet long, 31 J- wide, and 4J 
deep. She is a stern-wheeler, with engines of 15-inch cylinder and 
5-foot stroke, fitted with the Rees ^^ cut-off" and other modern im- 
provements. Her wheel is eighteen by twenty-four feet, with a steel 
shaft. There is more steel about the ^^ Chattahoochee" than any other 
boat of her size afloat. Five electric lights make the '^ Chattahoo- 
chee" a thing of beauty by night. Her draught is only twenty-two 
inches.^ 

At the steam-yacht race at Nice, France, on the 16th of March, 
1882, nine yachts competed for the Prixde Monte Carlo, or §1000 and 
a gold medal. Eight were English, and the smallest, the '' Le Few- 
Follet," of French nationality. The course was fifty miles long, and 
done in three hours, fifty-six minutes, and ten seconds, — a speed about 
thirteen and seven-tenths knots per hour. The " Condace," built in 
Leith and engined in Glasgow, Scotland, won the first prize ; the " Black 
Swan," engined by the same firm, took the second ; the " Le Few- 
Follet," the third. Only two yachts contested in 1881, and the in- 
crease in 1882 indicates the future of steam-yacht racing. 

Li 1882 the little steam-tug '^ Game Cock," a craft only seventy- 
five feet long, — feet wide, and drawing eleven feet of water, steamed 
from London to Panama in thirty-one days. She indexes in a marked 
manner the wonderful improvements made lately in the efficiency of 
steam craft. The recent introduction of steel as a building-material 
in the construction of these " lightning" steam craft — torpedo-boats, 
launches, etc. — has made results probable that a short time ago were 
thought impossible. 

1882. — Chaix-Steamees. — The Leipsic Gartenlaube, June, 
1882, contains an interesting article on chains used in the naviga- 
tion on the Elbe River. The following are the main points of the 
article : 

On the waves of the Elbe, impatiently floating towards Hamburg, 
a steamer goes up the stream, pulling along a long row of heavily-laden 
boats. But it is not only the force of steam that conquers the stream. 
Below, on the bottom of the river, a heavy iron chain is resting, that 
gives the steamer a hold, and enables her to overcome the force of the 
water. From this chain such vessels are called chain-steaQTers, and the 
whole navigation going on in such a way is called chain navigation. 

In the middle of the channel, along the whole length of the navi- 

1 This steamer should not be confounded with one of the same name launched 
in 1882, by John Eoach, at Chester, for the Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah. 



286 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

gable part of the river, a chain has been sunk, firmly anchored at its 
two ends. This chain, lifted out of the water, is received by an arm 
at the bow of the vessel, and thence by conducting rollers moved to 
two steel drums in the middle of the deck. Around these drums, 
provided with grooves, the chain winds three times in such a manner 
that it goes from the first groove of the first drum to the first groove 
of the second drum, thence to the second groove of the first drum, and 
then to the second groove of the second drum, etc. Finally the chain, 
in a conducting groove obliquely descending, is taken to the stern of 
the ship, where it goes down into the water again. The engine sets 
the two drums in motion, and all the parts of the drums encircled by 
the chain receive and dismiss an equal portion of it, moving the vessel 
forward a corresponding distance. 

The chain on the bottom of the river to which the steamer is 
attached by the two drums, so that she can go only forward or back- 
ward, is, according to the pulling force of the ship and the depth of 
the water, lifted a certain length in front of the vessel. The point 
where it remains unlifted is, as it were, the anchoring point of the 
vessel, the weight and friction of the chain supplying the anchor. 
The chain-steamer, with the whole load of vessels attached to and 
towed by her, is thus, as it were, constantly at anchor on going up the 
stream, and she cannot, even by the most rapid current, be forced 
back one inch of the way made. Because the vessel by the chain 
firmly resists the water, the power of the engine can be used to its 
fullest extent. 

The chain, of course, does not rest tightly in the river bed. The 
raised portion of it permits the vessel, by means of the rudders, to go 
sufficiently far to the right or left, out of the way of other vessels. 
This is of particular importance at the bends of the river. 

On account of the burden caused by the lifting of the chain, the 
depth of the water must not exceed a certain limit. In a river from 
thirty to fifty feet deep chain navigation would not be profitable, 
because the chain would become too heavy. As to the use of chain 
vessels, a depth of eight metres has proved a practical limit of the 
depth of the water. The essential advantage of chain navigation 
consists in the fact that it permits vessels to go up a stream with a very 
rapid current, where other tow-boats cannot go along any farther with 
the barges attached to them. 

It is self-evident that the strength of the chain must correspond to 
the depth and rapidity of the river. The links of the chain placed in 
the Elbe have the size of the palm of a hand, and are of two and one- 
half centimetres thick, each link weighing a little over one kilogramme. 
The weight of the chain placed in the Elbe River exceeds ten million 
kilogrammes. 

The chain-steamers have the same shape at both ends, and are pro- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 287 

vided with two rudders, one at the bow and one at the stern. The 
engine usually has a strength of from one hundred to one hundred and 
fifty horse-power. To a chain-steamer in the Elbe usually from ten to 
twelve freight vessels are attached, connected by ropes. She takes the 
train of boats up the river, until another chain-steamer meets her and 
relieves her of her load. Such a place is made a station, and may be 
any point of the chain. The relieved motor returns until it meets 
another train of vessels coming up, which it receives in turn in the 
mode described, towing it up the stream. In order to move inde- 
pendently of the chain, the majority of the steamers are provided with 
propellers. For detaching a steamer from the chain simply one of the 
locks of the chain is opened, with which it is regularly provided in 
intervals of half a kilometre. Or, if necessary, a link of the chain is 
broken by a chisel, and after the chain has been taken off from the 
drums, its two parts are united again by a lock. 

The first chain -steamers were successfully used in France in 1830. 
E. Bellingrath, of Dresden, inventor of the hydrostatic truck, is the 
chief of the chain navigation in the Elbe River, Germany. The Elbe 
River rises in Austria (Bohemia) and flows through the central part 
of Germany into the North Sea. In the latter country six hundred 
and thirty kilometres and in the former about forty kilometres of chain 
have been placed in the river, while the number of chain-steamers is 
about thirty. 

The chain does not always occupy the same place in the river, but 
its position is constantly changed by the steamers. For this reason 
only one can be used in the river. Two or more chains or ropes made 
of metal wires would become entangled.^ 

1882. — The Hopper Steam Dredger. — This new dredger, built 
at Renfrew for the Harbor Commissioners of Otago, New Zealand, was 
recently tried on the banks of the Clyde,^ '' and dredged at the rate of 

1 Experiments have been recently made on the canal from Antwerp to Liege 
with a system of mechanical traction of boats by means of a moving cable (the 
invention of M. Eigoni). An endless cable made of Bessemer steel is set in con- 
tinuous motion by fixed engines on the banks of the canal. It is supported along 
the bank by special pulleys, and directed by return pullej^s of large diameter lodged 
in chambers of masonry under the level of the tow-path. The length of the cable 
is eight kilometres, or five miles. Thus a canal is divided into as many sections, 
each worked by fixed engine, as this length of five miles is contained in it. The 
steam-engine acts on the cable through a pinching-pulley, similar to the Fowler 
pulley. The attachment of the boats to the cable is by means of checkered nippers 
embracing the cable. On coming to a supporting pulley, or a pulley at a curve, 
the nippers pass without releasing the cable. The principal advantages of the sys- 
tem are, first, a considerable increase of speed. At present the daily stretch covered 
in hauling with horses is about seventeen kilometres, and with men only about 
twelve kilometres. By the new method it is easy to make five kilometres an hour. 
Further, there is considerable economy both in the capital required at first and in 
the cost of working over other systems. — Boston T7^anscript, November 1, 1881. 

^ London Engineering, October, 1882. 



288 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

400 tons per hour, which was plunged into its own hold, or hopper 
cavity, capable of containing 1300 tons of soil ; at the same time it 
loaded the new government steamer ^' Perseverance,^^ which came 
alongside. Afterwards, by steam appliances, its bucket-girder was 
elevated, the moorings let go, its twin screws put in motion, and 
the vessel steamed away down the Clyde to the measured mile, where 
the loaded speed was tested at 1^ knots per hour ; it then steamed 
down the Firth of Clyde, where its large cargo was instantly deposited, 
through its bottom, in sixty fathoms water. The trial of dredging, 
steering, speed, manoeuvering, and depositing was considered very satis- 
factory by the respecting gentlemen on board. This vessel dredges 
from 5 feet to 35 feet depth, has twin screws, and is propelled and 
worked by two independent sets of compound engines, of 700 horse- 
power, and, besides loading its own cargo, it can, if required, fill a fleet 
of barges on the old system. It will steam out to New Zealand, and 
is the tenth and largest Hopper dredger constructed by Messrs. Simons 
& Co., who are the inventors and originators of the system. It is 
also worthy of note that, owing to the enterprise of the above small 
colony, they have now a dredger the equal of which is neither in 
Europe nor America." 

1882. — The Eailroad Iron Ferry-Boat "Newburgh," built 
for the West Shore Railroad Company, was launched in October, 1882, 
at Newburgh, the christening being by Miss Carrie Fry, daughter of the 
superintendent of steam motive power of the railroad. The dimen- 
sions are : Length over all, 205 feet; breadth of beam, 36 feet; over 
the guards, 65 feet ; depth, 14J feet. Her hull is of the best quality 
of iron, and of great strength, as she will have to contend with heavy 
ice in the winter. The keel-plate is f inch thick, the bottom and bilge- 
plates J inch, the water-line strake f inch, shear strake -j^, and the 
gunwale-plate ^ inch by 24 inches wide. The frames are 3x4, spaced 
21 inches apart, and the reverse iron is 3 x 3. There is a 10-inch belt 
frame on every eighth frame, and the floors are 16 inches deep. The 
stem-posts are of the best hammered iron, 8x4 inches. Each end of 
the hull is fitted with a water-tight, wrought-iron bulkhead, extending 
for about 30 feet from the stem ; there are 4 keelsons, running from 
bulkhead to bulkhead, and the bottom of the hull inside is cemented 
with the best Portland cement. 

The motive power of the vessel is a vertical beam engine, of 50 
inches bore by 10 feet stroke, fitted with Hayward's patent cut-off. 
The gallows frame of the engine is of iron and of great strength. The 
water-wheels are wholly of iron, 21 feet in diameter and of 8 J feet 
face. The shafts are 15 inches in diameter, each one, with its wheel, 
weighing, complete, about 26 tons. The boiler is of steel, lOJ feet in 
diameter, and 33 feet long, with two furnaces, and weighs about 30 
tons. Everything about the engine and boiler departments is of the 



HISTORY OF 8TEA3I NAVIGATION. 289 

newest and best description. In short, the boat is all that experience 
and skill can make her, for safety, utility, and comfort. 

The cabins on two sides of the boat are made very inviting. They 
have tile floors; the wood-work is in the Queen Anne style, of Cali- 
fornia red-wood, cherry, and mahogany, finished in oil and touched 
with gold. The seats are of perforated veneering, with " Austrian 
bentwood arms." The windows in the sides of the cabins are each 
one single light of plate glass, 6 feet high and 3 wide, with a transom 
of stained glass above. The doors to the cabins are of mahogany, 
with stained glass transoms overhead ; the wheel bulkheads are each 
provided with two large bevel-edged mirrors. She was to be completed 
about the 15th of December. 

Recent Novel Inventions and Experiments. 

1882. — Morse's Unsinkable Steamship. — Mr. Joseph W. 
Morse, a veteran artist and engraver of Brooklyn, New York, has in- 
vented a safety ocean steamship, which he claims is unsinkable. He 
says he conceived the invention twenty-five years ago, and built a model 
of it nine years ago, which he kept in his office in Franklin Avenue, 
where many persons saw it. He thinks that Lorrillard and others who 
are building the " Meteor'^ are infringing upon his invention, and that 
it probably suggested the idea of the dome steamer. Last July, de- 
scribing his vessel to a visitor, he said, " One advantage I have over 
the proposed new line is that my vessel cannot be sunk. No matter 
how heavy a storm may be, she will ride it safely. If she should run 
into an iceberg, or collide with another vessel, it would be impossible 
to sink her. 

" Her safety will not consist in numerous air-tight compartments, 
but why it will be impossible to sink her is my secret. You can look 
at the model," he added, pointing to it standing on a table in the corner 
of the office. 

The model boat is that of a low, rakish-looking vessel. The prin- 
cipal feature is that she has no deck, being rounded on top after the 
manner of the lower part of the hull. The bow tapers gradually from 
the centre, after the fashion of a steam-yacht. There is also a gradual 
tapering from the centre to the stern, which overhangs the rudder to 
some extent, but the stern is as sharp as the bow. The vessel is a long, 
narrow cylinder, sharpened at both ends, the lines being neatly and artis- 
tically drawn. She has two tall smoke-stacks, leaning fore and aft. 

"You see," continued the inventor, "she is built for speed as well 
as for safety. Having no rigging, and with her shape, she will meet 
with little resistance of either wind or water. She is modeled so that 
she will glide through the water wdth scarcely a ripple. The water 
will run along her bottom with as much ease as though running down 
hill. Her upper part is built on the same principle, so that the speed 

21 



290 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

will not be impeded by the wind. There will be no projections from 
the upper part, save the pilot-house and smoke-stack. They will be 
built of iron and strongly braced, and modeled in the same manner as 
the vessel. You will notice that I have studied the wind as well as the 
water, and speed as well as safety. A steamship built after my model 
will make a voyage to Europe in one-quarter less time than the fastest 
steamship afloat at the present day. 

^' That apparent forward smoke-stack is the pilot-house. The vessel 
has but one smoke-stack. The pilot-house being on a level with the 
smoke-stack, the pilot will have a longer range of vision, and be beyond 
the reach of the sea in case of storm. The pilot-house and smoke- 
stack will be forty feet above the surface of the water, about the usual 
height of a look-out on a vessel. Below the pilot-house there will be 
an opening for the purpose of pumping air into the ship. This pure 
air will be continually passing through the ship, and out again through 
the smoke-stack. Aft of the pilot-room, in the stack, will be an ele- 
vator for the transportation of the men up and down.'' 

The pilot-house and smoke-stack are not circular tube-shaped, but 
are flattened on the sides, and sharp fore and aft, on the same principle 
as the bow and stern of the ship. 

" People may object to being sealed up in your cylinder-shaped vessel 
during an entire voyage to Europe," the visitor remarked. ^' In case 
of an accident there would be no opportunity to escape." 

a A great many people object to going to Europe on account of the 
danger they are exposed to on board the present vessels," said the in- 
ventor. ^' Could they be convinced that there was no danger in making 
a voyage to Europe, there would be many more who would make the 
trip. On my vessel there would be no danger whatever; as I said, it 
is impossible to sink her. The only accident that could happen would 
be a break-down in the machinery. But each ship would carry dupli- 
cate machinery, so that an accident could be repaired immediately. 
Then, my ship would be fitted up as comfortably as a hotel. There 
will be heavy plate-glass windows running along the sides of the ship, 
and the ventilation will be perfect. I intend having a railing along 
the upper part of the vessel, so that in pleasant weather the passengers 
may take a promenade, if they wish. In bad weather they don't want 
to be outside. In a heavy storm, when the sea is pitching over a vessel, 
— seas that would wrench and disable an ordinary ship, — my boat will 
ride it as safely as though she was steaming up the East River. The 
passengers will feel as safe as though they were sitting in their own 
parlors. The water, when rushing over the deck of an ordinary ship, 
carrying away the bulwarks and rigging, will run ofl* my vessel like 
the water ofl:" a whale's back. The boat is so modeled that if she should 
turn over, — which will be impossible, as the centre of gravity will be 
below the water-line, — but if she should turn over, she would float as 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 291 

well one way as the other. All that the passengers would have to do 
would be to stand on their heads. To be sure, that might inconven- 
ience them some, but then there is no danger. There is a picture that 
will illustrate how she will weather a storm,'^ and the inventor, artist, 
and engraver pointed to a picture hanging on the wall. 

The painting is of his patent safety steamship in a terrible storm, 
executed by the inventor himself. The hurricane is blowing due east, 
and heavy black clouds hover about in close proximity to the smoke- 
stack. The sea is running " mountain high'^ and breaking over the 
ship from a represented height of forty feet. Part of the ship is 
obscured, from her being submerged amidships. The bow is about 
plunging into a great sea, while the stern projects from another. 
Away up in the pilot-house the captain is seen with his face glued to 
the glass, his hands firmly grasping the wheel, the sea breaking about 
him in a white, foamy mass. In through the plate-glass windows 
the passengers are forming a set for a quadrille, as unconcerned as 
though they were sailing up the Hudson on an excursion barge. 

^' Here is another,'' said the inventor, shortly afterwards, pointing 
to a picture on the other wall, " which presents the ship in another 
light.'' 

The painting represented the ship in smoother water, under sun- 
shine, evidently steaming along at a rapid pace. A little astern is a 
sea-gull. The reporter interpreted it as a race between the patent 
safety steamship and the gull, in which the bird is beaten. 

" What will be the dimensions of your ship ?" the reporter inquired. 

" My figures," replied the inventor, ^^ are 360 feet in length, 25 
feet beam, and 35 feet deep. She can be built larger, if necessary.^ 

1882. — Captain Lundborg's Twin-Screw Steamship. — His 
design, which he has patented in the United States and Europe, is 
based on a novel form of vessel, which renders high speed possible, 
while adding greatly to the carrying capacity and stability of the vessel. 

The design, while affording ample space for passengers and valu- 
able cargo, has the primary object of attaining a velocity of twenty to 
twenty-one knots an hour, with a comparatively moderate expenditure 
of power. The prominent idea is that of making the main body of 
the ship divide the water horizontally instead of vertically. By adopt- 
ing this system of construction he says it becomes possible to build a 
ship of the greatest capacity for a given draught, — an advantage which 
speaks for itself. But, besides this, it is stated that this ship of shallow 
draught and great capacity can have admirable lines, and her resistance 
may be reduced to a minimum. The principle, he claims, admits of 
the naval architect imparting to his ship a splendid clean run aft, and 
the screws can be carried far astern and yet be well supported. The 
advantages to be derived from thus placing the screws far astern have 
^ Brooklyn Eagle, July 17, 1882. 



292 HISTORY OF STJEA3I NAVIGATIOK 

been insisted on by the late Mr. Froude. No scheme has been put 
forward which is so perfectly adapted to the use of twin-screws. If 
desired, the stern of the ship can be carried farther aft, to protect the 
screws. There is ample room provided for engine-power, notwith- 
standing the fine run of the hull aft. The principal dimensions, etc., 
of Captain Lundborg's proposed ship are : 

Length of hull below water on the plane of greatest beam . . 450 feet. 

Greatest breadth 66 " 

Length on load water-line 444 " 

Breadth on load water-line 58 " 

Draught of water on load water-line 23 " 

Length over all on upper deck 475 " 

Breadth on upper deck at greatest transverse section (outside of 

frames) - 62 " 

Depth from top of upper deck beams to bottom plating .... 41 " 

Height between the upper and second decks 9 " 

Height between second and third decks 9 " 

Height between third and orlop decks 8 " 

Area of greatest immersed transverse section 1,412 square " 

Coefficient of greatest immersed transverse section 0.09303 

Area of load water-plane 15,255 square feet. 

Displacement to load water-line 380,836 cubic " 

Displacement 10,881 tons. 

Horizontal distance of centre of buoyancy from the submerged 

stern 225 feet. 

Vertical distance of centre of buoyancy below load water-line . 11,456 " 

Height of metacentre above centre of buoyancy 7,469 " • 

Height of metacentre above centre of gravity of the ship when 

fully equipped and loaded 3,458 '* 

Height of metacentre above centre of gravity of the ship at 14 
feet draught of water, with no cargo, coal, stores, water, or 
ballast, and no water in boilers, but otherwise completely 

fitted and fully rigged 5,060 " 

Height of metacentre above centre of gravity of the ship at 9.6 
feet draught of water, the hull being complete, with masts 

in and rigged, but empty, without engines or boilers . . . 11,389 " 

Wet surface when immersed to load water-line 38,040 '♦ 

Angle of obliquity of load water-line at the bow 5° 50'' 

Angle of obliquity at the stern , 6° 30^ 

Mean angle of obliquity at entrance . 1° 

The ship is to have two propellers of 16 feet diameter and 28 feet 
pitch ; the propelling power to consist of four compound engines, two 
on each propeller shaft, developing each, when making 90 revolutions 
per minute, 4500 indicated horse-power, or for all four engines together, 
18,000 indicated horse-power. With this power the speed, according 
to Professor Rankine's formula, would be 20.7 knots per hour; but 
that speed would in all probability be exceeded, as little power will be 
lost by wave-making, the water having a clean run astern, being divided 
horizontally by the lower part of the hull. 

The ship would have room to accommodate about 600 first-class and 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 293 

1000 second- and third-class passengers, and carry 3000 tons of cargo, 
23 feet draught of water, besides 2700 tone of coal. 

The ship is designed to be built of iron or steel, with a double 
bottom, and with a great number of water-tight compartments, trans- 
verse and longitudinal. 

The peculiar form of the hull makes it possible to unite great car- 
rying capacity with the finest lines for high speeds. The submerged 
stern, which divides the water horizontally, admits of the finest possible 
run aft, and affords a perfect support and protection to the propeller 
shafts. With this construction the propellers act constantly in solid 
water, unaffected by stern-post, rudder, and the overhanging part of the 
stern, as in ships of the usual form. This feature secures an economy 
of power, or, what is the same thing, an increase of speed. 

A vessel of this form will not roll and pitch as much as other ves- 
sels, as the body of water above the projecting part of the hull offers 
considerable resistance to such motions. 

The rudders may be nearly balanced, and will require but little 
power to work them, and, on account of the peculiar form of the stern, 
the rudders may have considerably less area than those of the common 
model, as it requires less power to move the stern laterally. 

The form of the hull, while permitting very sharp entrance and 
run, affords ample room for the application of the greatest engine-power 
compatible with carrying capacity.^ 

1882. — Eoot's Side-Screw Steamship. — A vessel of this kind 
is being built at Greenpoint, Long Island, by Samuel Pine, for Senor 
Diaz, for lighterage service in Cuba. This vessel embodies in the ar- 
rangement of her propelling wheels the ideas set forth by Mr. Root 
before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The hull is 
one hundred feet long, thirty-two wide, and with one hundred tons of 
cargo draws only three feet of water. She is decked over and has a flat 
bottom, with vertical sides, longitudinal strength being obtained by 
three fore and aft bulkheads, and she is the first example of what is 
thought by experts will be a revolution in the science of screw propulsion. 

A high rate of speed is not expected, but her performance will ex- 
emplify the economy which Mr. Root claims for his novel application 
of screw-propelling wheels. These wheels are set on the ends of an 
athwartship shaft, the plane of their faces being fore and aft, and not 
as the common type of screw propeller is, at right angles to the line of 
motion of the vessel. They are driven by a vertical direct-acting 
engine. The boiler is a vertical tubular, which will drive the wheels 
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred revolutions per minute. 
The "true-screw'^ type of wheel is used, six feet in diameter. 

^ The Scientific American, October 21, 1882, has a view of the ship complete, 
and also of her stern. She is represented as having three funnels and four masts, 
three of which are square rigged. 



294 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

In his experimental workshop Mr. Root has a trough of water, in 
which he exhibits the speed' of different models moved by olock-spring 
machinery, turning various types of propelling wheels. It is inter- 
esting and instructive to see one model in particular spinning down the 
trough, propelled by a screw-wheel revolving horizontally under the 
bottom, the propelling force being generated by a current of water 
sucked in by the revolutions of the screw, between it and the incline of 
the bottom of the boat. There seems no limit to the power that could 
be exerted by this oblique-acting current, excepting in the size and 
speed of the screw-wheel, and the illustration of Mr. Root's theory by 
the action of this model is conclusive as to its theoretical correctness. 
It presented an amusing and instructive paradox in the propelling effect 
produced by a vertical screw-shaft, its thrust being at right angles to 
the line of motion, — the propeller blades working horizontally and 
parallel with the keel instead of at right angles to it, as all propellers 
do that are now used. " In the present method of applying the screw- 
propeller wheel,'' says Mr. Root, " the maximum propelling effect has 
without doubt been obtained, for it is well known that an increase of 
engine-power gives nothing like a proportionate effect in speed. Sixty 
per cent, of all the power is wasted somewhere, Mr. Froude calculates, 
and accounts for this great loss of power in the present method of stern 
screw-wheel propulsion in the fact that a screw-wheel at the stern of a 
vessel draws the water away from the after body, creates a suction, as 
it were, and, of course, increases thereby the head resistance, such in- 
crease varying with the size of the column of water acted upon by the 
wheel. 

'^ It is a fact in practice that all craft propelled by a stern screw- 
wheel, when they reach a certain velocity, settle down by the stern ; and, 
pile on the power as you may, beyond that point no more speed can be 
obtained. They can and do settle, however, which fact shows clearly 
that a vacuum is formed when a high rate of speed is obtained, and that 
the screw-wheel, operating in the vacuum, becomes, more or less, a re- 
tarding instead of a propelling force, as such ^ minus-pressure' adds 
directly to the head resistance. It has lately been found in England 
that 4t high speeds the power does not follow the speed produced in a 
uniform ratio, as in some speeds it may vary as the cube; beyond them 
it drops down as low as the square of the velocity. Fluid action around 
a vessel is something of an enigma, and the columns of water acted 
upon by a screw-wheel at the stern, in its reactionary thrust, is more so. 
The fact of the enormous waste of power in the best examples of steam 
screw-wheel propulsion is incontrovertible." 

Mr. Root proposes to change the position of the wheel, and make 
the currents generated by their revolutions force the vessel through the 
water by their oblique action on the sides of the after-body or '' run" 
of the vessel. His system has been patented in the United States and 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 295 

abroad, and is analogous in its application to the action of fishes when 
swimming, the power being applied laterally. At a point in the ^^ run'^ 
of his craft where the water begins to close in laterally he places his 
wheels. The shaft is at right angles to the keel, and the wheels some 
sixteen feet apart. The proper pitch, etc., of these wheels has to be 
determined by experiment, but they will drive a current inboard along 
the sides of the run (which will be made concave, vertically) that, in its 
impinging force upon the converging sides of the hull, will propel it 
forward. It is like the snapping of a bean between your fingers, and 
the larger the wheels and the greater their velocity the more power 
they will exert, as they work always in solid water. 

1882. — Coppin's Triple Steamship. — Captain William Coppin 
is an old and well-known constructor and inventor. As early as 1842 
he built the ^' Londonderry,^^ a screw steamship of 1500 tons, the 
largest screw steamer that had up to that time been built.^ She was 
sometimes called the '^ Great Northern," and antedated the "Great 
Britain," which was laid down as a paddle-wheel, but before launching 
altered to a screw. Captain Coppin^s United States patent is dated 
March 28, 1882, and his idea, which has yet to be put to a practical 
test, has been approved and indorsed by several distinguished officers, 
both line and staff, of the United States navy, and William Pearce, of 
the well-known firm of William Elder & Co., who, under date of Sep- 
tember 11, 1880, says, '^I am satisfied that twenty knots an hour will 
be very readily attained with this (your) form of vessel, and of the 
power, displacement, and dimensions contained in your estimates." 

The invention consists of a compound ship, consisting of three ship 
hulls united as one vessel, the two outer hulls being of equal length 
and longer than the central hull, and the whole being decked over. 
The three hulls are rigidly connected by iron or steel bulkheads, box- 
girders, and iron or steel decks, or frames, so as to form complete plat- 
forms or decks, and leave considerable extra space between the ships. 
The centre ship is to carry the engines, and is provided with a propeller 
at each end. This arrangement brings the screws well towards the 
centre of the outside hulls and prevents a possibility of the pitching 
motion lifting the propeller out of the water. The three hulls are 
tapered from the centre, both longitudinally and vertically, and come 
to a rounded point at both ends, so as to enter the wave and reduce the 
pitching motion to a minimum, the rolling being done away with by 
the extent of the water-space between the ships. The decks extend in 
the centre three-fifths (more or less) of the length of the outside ship. 
The remaining portion of the ends are covered over for passing through 
the waves. For smooth-water ferry-boats and the like, the decks are 
proposed to be the entire length of the outside hulls. 

Captain Coppin claims that his improvements are " specially ap- 

^ See page 184. 



296 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

plicable to war-ships, and enable a large amount of armor-plating to be 
carried, and give an extended battery platform to carry guns of the 
largest calibre, and that turrets of increased thickness of armor-plate 
can be employed with safety. Complete protection is also given to the 
engines, screw-propellers, and steering apparatus, increased accommoda- 
tion for a large number of troops and horses, with a speed at least one- 
third faster than the present class of transports ; and the construction 
is such that one of the three ships might be completely riddled with 
shot or damaged by a ram, and yet be supported by the other two/^ 
There can be no question that a vessel of this description will have 
great stability, and can be armor-clad, and that the outer hulls will 
have to be penetrated before the central hull, containing the engine, can 
be reached, and that the broad platform of her deck would be admirably 
adapted for carrying guns of heavy calibre. As a ferry-boat she seems 
also to unite many advantages, and her broad decks and stability seem 
to adapt her particularly for a railroad ferry barge. Her ability to 
turn rapidly in a seaway and to withstand Atlantic gales, and also the 
speed she might attain, has yet to be put to a practical test. 

1882. — The Fryer Buoyant Propeller ''Alice" — A Veloci- 
pede OR Locomotive. — A working model of this queer craft stands 
in a brick-yard at Hastings-on-the-Hudson, where it is an object of 
great curiosity. The model consists of a triangular frame-work resting 
on three wheels, which are in the same relation to each other as the 
wheels of a tricycle. These wheels are spheroidal in shape, about six 
feet in diameter, and are housed above with dome-shaped covers. Each 
sphere is a propeller, having flanges or buckets at the sides at right 
angles to the vertical diameter, and acting upon the water like a paddle- 
wheel. These spheroids are driven by steam. At the same time they 
serve as floats, and are submerged about one-sixth of their capacity. 
Another feature of the propellers is that they have an iron tire or keel, 
by means of which they may be made to serve as wheels, and carry the 
vessel along a track on dry land. An engine rests on the frame-work 
between the two propellers that are opposite each other. The frame- 
work forming the deck is supported on the axes of the wheels, so that 
it is several feet above the surface of the water. 

Robert Fryer, the inventor, conceived the idea of his water-car about 
twelve years ago, and has been engaged in making experiments ever 
since. His first model was made on a small scale. It consisted of 
three hollow copper globes connected by axles to a frame superstructure, 
and of the same form as the larger model. The spheres were twelve 
inches in diameter, made to revolve by springs placed inside and wound 
up by keys. After repeated experiments in a tank, it was rigged with a 
small sail and launched on the Harlem River, with good results. Daily 
experiments were subsequently made with the steam model on the Har- 
lem, much to the astonishment of those who saw it. It was found that 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 297 

it could be turned in its own lengtli ; that there was no appreciable 
slipping, and that it was little affected by the action of the wind or tide. 
When the " Alice" was taken to Hastings it made part of the distance 
on dry land, steaming along the road like a great lumbering wagon. 

The plan proposes a huge hollow semi-cylinder for the superstruc- 
ture, containing saloons and state-rooms, with masts and rigging above 
for carrying sails. One claim made for the buoyant propeller is that it 
cannot be overturned in the roughest sea, on account of its triangular 
shape, and that its oscillation in a violent sea will be less than that of 
an ordinary vessel on comparatively smooth water. The advantage 
from this is that passengers would have no fear of sea-sickness. The 
inventor believes that his ship will excel the steam-vessels now in use 
in point of convenience and comfort, and be a safer means of transit, as 
the ship proper would stand thirty feet above the water, and out of 
reach of the waves even in a stormy sea. He also designs to apply the 
same principle to the construction of dispatch- and life-boats. If this 
water-car comes up to the expectations of its inventor, it will make the 
passage of the Atlantic between Sundays.^ 

1882, — Rosse's Catamaean Steam-Tug. — This novel steam- 
vessel, which was built at Brown's ship-yard, in Tarry town, is now in 
the harbor of New York, waiting trial. Its inventor, Captain J. 
Rosse, will claim the reward offered by the government for a steamboat 
that can run in canals without washing or otherwise injuring the 
banks. The practical utility of the craft has not yet been proved, but 
it is believed that it will prove very powerful in towing canal-boats 

1 Two correspondents of the Manchester Times, in October, 1882, referring to 
Fryer's Marine Velocipede, say, — 

" In June, 1866, a patent was granted in America to A. Blomquist and 0. Cooke 
(patent No. 56,351) for a 'marine car' on three spheres, with paddles attached, on 
the same principle as that described by your correspondent 'Mechanic' What 
made me notice his account is the fact that about live years ago I made a model of 
the vessel for Mr. Blomquist, of Brooklyn, New York, one of the original patentees. 

" Another Mechanic, 
" Late of Brooklyn, New York." 



" ' Mechanic,' Carlisle, describing the vessel invented by Eobert Fryer, of New 
York, would almost make us believe there is something new under the sun. But 
though the remarkable vessel may be new, the idea is not. I once inquired of the 
editor respecting a machine on which a man walked on the river Tyne, and was 
told that my question was not sufficiently explicit. The machine described by 
' Mechanic' corresponds exactly with the invention to which my question referred. 
If I recollect rightly, the machine I saw was a marine velocipede, on three long, 
spider-like legs, stretching from what formed a seat for the rider. These legs were 
fixed in hollow tin spheres, sufficiently large to bear his weight, and wide enough 
apart to enable him to maintain his balance. The rider had flanges or flappers fitted 
on his feet, and was thus enabled to propel himself. Although the speed was not 
very great, it was sufficient to enable him to keep pace with the boats around him, — 
namely, the procession of barges on the day when George IV. was crowned. 

" Driffield, South Shields." 



298 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

without making a destructive washing against the bank. The boat is 
built of two very narrow hulls, fifty-three feet in length, with the 
machinery and weight thoroughly balanced on them. She lies low, so 
as to pass under the canal bridges. A huge belt, which runs fore and 
aft over two drums at right angles with and between the two hulls, has 
buckets or paddles fixed across its outer surface. The power is applied 
to the drums, and the belt is moved around from forward to aft, taking 
the water easily, and leaving it without making a commotion. The 
novelty has so far made satisfactory speed. ^ 

1882. — A Boat Propelled by Electricity. — The ScientifiG 
American for November 11, 1882, has a description and an engraving 
of a small boat propelled by electricity, lately tried on the Thames River 
near London. It also gives transverse and longitudinal sections and 
a deck-plan of the boat. The hull is of iron, 25 feet long, 5 feet beam, 
drawing 21 inches of water forward and 30 inches aft. She is a screw 
boat, the propeller being of the Collis-Browne type, 20 inches in diame- 
ter, and with a 3-foot pitch. The screw is calculated to make 350 revo- 
lutions per minute. Twelve persons can be accommodated on board, 
though only four were actually carried on the trial trip. The electric 
engines are nothing else than a pair of Siemens's dynamos, of the size 
known as D3, and their motive power is furnished by Sellon-Volckmar 
accumulators. These accumulators are a modification of those of Plante 
and of Faure, but are made of specially compact design for the purpose 
of electric navigation. The cells each contain forty prepared plates, 
and weigh about forty pounds. They are about ten inches square and 
eight inches high, and are charged, while the boat is lying at anchor, by 
wires which come across the wharf from the factory, bringing currents 
generated by dynamos fixed in the works. There is room for a battery 
of fifty-four such cells to be stowed away, as will be seen upon the 
drawings, where the battery cells are marked B B. Only forty-five 
cells were used at the trial trip. They had a total electromotive force 
of ninety-six volts, and were capable of furnishing continuously for 
nine hours a current exceeding thirty amperes. 

When in action the counter-electromotive force of the motors reduces 
the apparent strength of the current according to Jacobi's well-known 
theory of electro-magnetic engines. The accumulators have a total 
weight of somewhat less than a ton. The motors of electric engines 
are arranged so that either or both of them may be furnished with the 
current, there being a switch to each lead. There is also a commutator 
to switch into circuit any number of cells from forty upward. One of 
the motors can be thrown in or out of gear by means of an Addyman^s 
friction clutch, which permits the pulley to be started and stopped with 
great facility without shocks. A reversing gear for the two motors is 

^ Engravings of this catanaaran, the Fryer propeller, and the domed steam- 
ship " Meteor" can be found in Harpei^^s Weekly, October 7, 1882. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 299 

contrived by the very simple device of arranging two pairs of brushes 
for each collector or commutator, one pair having an angular lead for- 
ward, the other a lead backward. By a simple lever arrangement either 
pair of brushes can be pressed at will against the segments of the com- 
mutator. In practice this arrangement works well, the boat being very 
readily stopped by reversing the engines in this fashion. As will be 
seen from the drawings, the motors are connected by belts to pulleys on 
a countershaft, from which a belt passes down to a pulley on the pro- 
peller axis, whose speed is thus reduced in the proportion of 950 to 
350 revolutions per minute. The steering is managed by the same 
person who operates the switches, seated in the central cabin. A whistle 
being impossible in the absence of steam, this necessary feature is re- 
placed by a large electric bell, also ^vorked by the accumulators. The 
calculated average speed is nine miles per hour. This speed, says Engi- 
neering^ was actually attained on the trial trip from Milwall to London 
Bridge and back. 

1882. — A Steamship Brake. — The stopping of steamers sud- 
denly, when under way, has long been a problem unsolved. But a 
near approach to an effective " brake," as it is called, is in operation 
on one of the small craft plying between City Point and Long Island, 
in Boston harbor. A trial of the device, invented by Mr. John 
McAdams, on. the steamer '^ City Point," was made in the harbor in 
November. The arrangement is simple, and is seen at once from a 
glance at the working model. The essential parts are two large metal 
fins on the after part of the hull, one on either side, which can by a 
simple movement be thrown at right angles to the body of the boat, 
presenting a broad surface to the water and effectually checking the 
boat^s headway. The fins can be made of any size, those of the '^ City 
Point" being five feet by four. The fins are hinged securely on the 
stern post, and are sustained when open by three strong telescope 
braces and a chain, the last-named also serving to close the apparatus. 
When closed the appearance is of two closed port-holes. The material 
is steel. A strong spring opens the fins, just starting them a few 
inches, and the force of the water throws them open to the full extent. 
There are two levers for working the apparatus, one in the pilot-house 
and one on the forward deck. An additional and automatic arrano^e- 
ment has also been invented, consisting of a long lever to hang from 
the end of the bowsprit of large vessels, and serving to work the 
apparatus automatically in case of sudden collision. In case of neces- 
sity one fin can be worked alone, not only checking the speed, but also 
turning sharply aside. The " City Point" got under way, and, while 
at full speed, the signal was given and the fins thrown back. The 
motion of the boat was checked with a sharp shock, and before ten 
feet of space were covered she lay perfectly still. The effect of forty 
square feet of steel braced suddenly at right angles to the vessel may 



300 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

be imagined. Several trials were made, both with steam on and with 
steam shut off at the moment the fins were opened, and in both cases 
the motion was quickly stopped. The patent has only been issued a 
few weeks, and nothing has been done looking to the general introduc- 
tion of the brake, but its succees on trial certainly shows that steps 
have been taken in the right direction towards preventing the numerous 
collisions of steamers and the consequent loss of life and property. 

Ocean Mercantile Steamers. — The net tonnage of the mari- 
time nations of the world, according to the French Bureau Keports in 
1882, was,— 

Countries. Net tonnage. 

Great Britain 3,133,453 

United States 408,496 

Norway 53,340 

Germany 234,680 

Italy 75,646 

France 302,432 

Eussia , 87,997 

Sweden 66,204 

Spain 144,691 

Holland 81,048 

Greece 11,019 

Austria , 66,352 



. — There are sixty-five steamers in the British merchant ma- 
rine of considerable coal-bearing power that possess an ocean speed of 
upward of thirteen knots, and the P. & O. Line possess forty-eight 
steamers with a speed of over twelve knots. 

1882. — The Limit of Steam Pressure. — In the time of Watt 
the ordinary limit was seven pounds. Ten times this pressure is usual 
now, while ninety pounds is not uncommon. The rise within the past 
ten years has been twenty-five pounds, and with the constant study of 
boiler structure and boiler capacity for work and strain, we may expect 
to see at least an equal rise during the coming ten years. Pressures 
of one hundred pounds and over are occasional now, but are yet far 
from being the rule. The increasing use of steel in boiler construc- 
tion must lead to developments that will help the solvement of the 
problem. 

1882. — A Novel Application of the Screw. — The screw 
propeller at the stern has maintained its position unchanged, though 
often varied in its form and in the pitch, or number of its blades, 
since it was first brought into general use. It has been tried at the 
bow, where it worked well enough, until it proved troublesome when 
brought in contact with drift-wood. It has been placed at the sides, 
where it operated only as an imperfect paddle-wheel. Eecently it has 
been tried in an entirely new position. The vessel to which this new 
method of placing the screw has been applied is a lighter, designed for 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 301 

carrying heavy freight upon a crooked and shallow river. Her wood 
hull is about ninety feet long and thirty-two feet wide, and draws 
about thirty-nine inches when loaded with one hundred tons of freight. 
In general appearance the boat does not differ from the ordinary steam- 
lighters used in American waters. Her hull is of the usual shape, 
except at the stern ; there the after-body turns abruptly inward at the 
water-line, making a double curve towards the stern-post. Below the 
water-line the hull carries a lip or projection that follows the ordinary 
lines of a ship's stern. In the concave recess on each side of the stern 
is placed a single screw, facing outward, — that is, the shaft carrying 
a screw at each end extends directly across the hull. This shaft is just 
at the water-line, and carries each screw half-submerged. The deck 
above each screw overhangs the hull, as in American river-boats. The 
engine is placed between the two screws and directly connected with 
the shaft. On turning the two screws placed in this position, it would 
appear that they would act as paddle-wheels. They do so, but the 
amount of work performed in moving the boat is thought to be very 
small. Experiments seem to prove that the movement of the boat is 
caused by the streams of water turned by the screws against the wedge- 
shaped hull. The water thrown into the concave part of the stern 
cannot easily escape, and the result is the hull is thrust forward by the 
action of the water against it. The actual trials of the boat show that 
she can be moved with a full load, in rather rough water, at a speed of 
from four to five knots an hour. This is considered good speed for 
such a boat, with her small engine-power. On the second trial trip 
careful measurements were made of the power utilized by the screws. 
The boat was towed at her usual speed, and the amount of strain on 
the tow-line found by the aid of a dynamometer. The power needed 
to move the boat, compared with the actual working power of the 
engine, was found to be over fifty per cent. In other words, one-half 
the actual power of the engine seems to be realized in moving the boat. 
This is considered a favorable showing for the position of the screws. 
The trial trips of the new boat are regarded as interesting contributions 
to the question of screw propulsion. The positions of the screws give 
a good economy for the power employed, and in new and faster boats, 
that are to be built upon the same pattern, more interesting results may 
be expected.^ 

188^. — The Dome Steam- Yacht "Meteor.'' — There is now 
building at Nyack-on-the-Hudson a steamboat of naval construction 
which is rapidly approaching completion. This craft is the design, 
model, and invention, both in hull and machinery, of Captain A. 
Perry Bliven. She will be launched on the 1st of August. Her 
dimensions are: Length over all, 153 feet; water-line, 136 feet; on 
keel, 128 feet; extreme beam, 21 feet 6 inches; beam at water-line, 

^ The Century for November, 1882. 



302 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

17 feet; extreme depth of hold, 17 feet; draught forward, 6 feet; 
draught aft, 11 feet; tonnage, old measurement, 512^^0^. This vessel 
is an entirely new departure from the principles and designs of the 
steamers now afloat, and is the pioneer vessel of the American Quick 
Transit Company of Boston. The " Meteor'' will be followed by 
large steel steamers of the same model, and with the most powerful 
machinery ever yet placed in ocean steamships. The ^' Herald," to be 
built in Boston, on the '^ Meteor's" model, will be of the following 
dimensions: 425 feet long; 56 feet beam ; 48 feet hold; draught 
forward, 17 feet; draught aft, 26 feet; capacity, 7500 tons, old meas- 
urement. She will have four steel boilers, new pattern ; three double 
compounded steel engines, twelve cylinders; actual horse-power, 
18,000; capable of making a speed of 28 to 30 miles per hour. 

It appears that the inventor's aim is to make a self-righting boat 
by carrying the sides over the deck in the form of a dome. The side 
frames are made continuous, and meet over the centre of the hull, or, 
in other words, the frames begin at one side of the keel, rise directly 
at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the water-line, and then 
curve inward over the deck and back on the same lines to the keel. 
A section of the hull taken in the centre is thus of a wedge shape, 
with a sharp edge below and rounded top above. This wedge-form is 
preserved through the entire length of the hull. There are no hollow 
lines in the boat, and the sharp, overhanging bow is intended to part 
the water near the surface, and to form a long, tapering wedge. The 
widest part of the hull is exactly at the middle, both ends being pre- 
cisely alike. This is quite different from the flat bottom and straight 
sides, with comparatively bluff or rounded bows, of the ordinary ocean 
steamship. 

The boat is intended to be much deeper aft than forward, and the 
deck will be much higher above water at the bows than at the stern. 
There will be no houses or raised constructions of any kind on deck, 
except the dome-shaped pilot-house, the ventilators, and the smoke- 
stacks. There will be an open railing around the centre of the deck, 
so that it can be used as a promenade in pleasant weather, or whenever 
the seas do not break over the boat. The object of this unbroken 
dome-shaped deck is to enable the boat to throw off all waves that 
break over the bows or sides in rough weather. It is thought that, 
instead of shipping tons of water and retaining it on deck till it can 
be drained off, the boat will shed or throw off the water from the long, 
sharp bows and open deck, and will at once relieve herself of the 
weight of the water. Waves striking the rounded deck will have no 
hold on the boat, and their force will thus be spent harmlessly. The 
sharp wedge-shape and rounded top of the hull, and the fact that even 
when fully loaded the centre of gravity will be below the water-line, 
makes the model self-righting. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 303 

From experiments with a small model, this claim of the inventor 
seems to be clearly proved. In laying out the boat only the spar-deck 
will be used for passengers, the main-deck and all below being intended 
for cargo, coal, and engines. The state-rooms will be arranged along 
the outside, each room having a port in the side of the boat, while the 
ceiling will be formed of the curved deck above. The saloons will be 
the whole width of the ship, and on the spar-deck. For lighting the 
saloons there will be skylights in the centre, and as these in rough 
weather may be covered by the seas that sweep over the deck, they 
will be very strong, and will be air-tight. To secure ventilation there 
will be steam-fans, kept in motion at all times, and maintaining a good 
circulation of air through every part of the boat. For this purpose 
the fresh air will be taken through wind-sails on the deck, and the ex- 
haust air from the rooms will be turned into the blast used in forcing 
the boiler fires. No boats are to be carried on deck ; the life-rafts and 
boats will be kept in an apartment under the domed deck at the stern, 
and when they are to be launched doors will be opened in the deck, 
and the boats launched in the usual way from davits through these 
doors. The pilot-house will be at the bows, and will be entirely 
inclosed. It will not rise much above the deck, and will be entered 
from below. 

There will be no masts or sails, as it is intended to depend wholly 
on the engines for propulsion. In constructing the hull, to secure great 
strength, three heavy trusses, or '^ hog frames," are to be placed on the 
keel, each one rising to the spar-deck, and securely fastened to the side 
frames of the boat. The ceiling will be double, and placed diagonally 
on the frames. In the larger steamships the absence of sailing power 
will be compensated for by two extra engines and two supplementary 
screws, that can be employed in case the larger screw is lost, or the 
main engines break down. 

1882. — Here Beck's Gunpowder Engine. — A patent has been 
taken out in Germany for a gunpowder engine. Years ago, before 
Savery and Newcomen introduced their rude attempts at steam-engines, 
Huyghens and others, notably Papin, endeavored to utilize the force of 
exploding gunpowder as a means of obtaining motive-power, and en- 
gines were constructed which deuionstrated at least the possibility of the 
idea. A tall cylinder, having a touch-hole at the bottom, was fitted 
with a heavy piston, to which ropes were attached passing over pulleys. 
A sufficient quantity of gunpowder was placed inside the cylinder to 
drive the piston nearly to the top when the powder was fired, and then 
the gases escaping through the touch-hole, and being also condensed, 
the atmospheric pressure forced the piston down, and men who were 
holding on to the ropes were hauled up. Of late the idea has been 
utilized in the construction of a pile-driver, the ^' monkey'^ being 
driven down by the force of exploding gunpowder. Herr Beck has 



304 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

recently devised an engine the piston of which is driven backward and 
forward by small charges of gunpowder supplied at each end by an 
automatic arrangement. The ignition is effected by the motion of the 
piston, which draws in a flame of gas or spirit, the access being regu- 
lated by slide valves, which also opens outlets for the escape of the 
gases of combustion. 

1882, — A New Motor. — A new motor has been discovered, which, 
it is claimed, will supersede steam. The material from which the en- 
ergy is generated is bisulphide of carbon, which is utilized as a motor 
agent in the form of vapor, and the advantage claimed for it over 
steam is that, while water expands in the ratio of 1 cubic inch to 1700, 
bisulphide of carbon has an expansive property of 1 to 8000. When 
the vapor is generated it passes into the steam-chest of the engine and 
moves the piston-rods. A pipe attached to the engine conveys the ex- 
haust vapor directly through a condenser back to the tank in its original 
liquefied form, to be regenerated. The system of generation and con- 
densation is similar to the heart-action ; and with machinery perfectly 
constructed it is claimed that a single supply of the bisulphide of carbon 
can be used with reinforcement for an indefinite period. The cost of 
fuel is trifling, it being claimed that from the peculiar properties of the 
bisulphide an ordinary house fire can develop a power sufficient to run 
an ocean steamer. Water boils at 212°, and it takes 320° of heat to 
make steam available, while the new agent takes the form of vapor at 
180°. The invention is owned by J. R. Blumenburg, a German, who 
has been exhibiting it to Philadelphia capitalists with such success that 
they are likely to try it on a large scale. 



CHAPTER yi. 

The GrEEAT Ocean Steamship Companies. — General Eemarks, Ocean 
Tramps, ETC.^The Cunard, 1840.— The Peninsular and Oriental, 1840.— Pa- 
cific Steam Navigation, 1840. — Eoyal West India Mail, 1841. — Collins Line, 
1847. — Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 1848. — Warren Line, 1850. — Inman 
Line, 1850. — The Messageries Maritimes, 1851. — Allan Line, 1854. — Hamburg 
American Packet Company, 1855. — Anchor Line, 1856. — North German 
Lloyds, 1857. — Leyland Line, 1860. — Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 
1862.— National Steamship Company, 1863.— Williams & Guion Line, 1866.— 
Old Dominion Line, 1867. — White Star Line, 1870. — American or Keystone 
Line, 1871.— City Line.— State Line, 1872.— Ked Star Line, 1873.— The Mon- 
arch Line, 1874. — Harrison Line. — Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah. — 
The Mitsu-Bishi Steam Navigation Company, 1875. — The Atlas Steamship 
Company. — Eoach's United States and Brazil Steamship Line, 1875. — The 
Mallory Line. — The Red "D" Line, 1879. — New York, Havana, and Mexican 
Mail Line. — Boston and Savannah Steamship Company, 1882. — Thingvalla 
Line, 1882. — West India Steamship Enterprise. 

I AM indebted to the courtesy of the managers, agents, and owners 
of the several ocean steamship lines for the major part of the informa- 
tion contained in this chapter, but I have also drawn from printed his- 
tories and circulars and communications which I have found in maga- 
zines and newspapers since these sketches of ocean steamship lines 
were written, and in part printed in the Uxited Service. 

The Century, in its September number, has published an interest- 
ing article on ocean steamships, by S. W. G. Benjamin, which has 
been supplemented by an anonymous communication entitled " More 
about Ocean Steamships,'^ published in the Boston Transcript. The 
writer seemed to be well posted up in his subject, better even than Mr. 
Benjamin, and as his communication contains some interesting facts 
which I have not given, I take the liberty to quote from him a few 
paragraphs to supply the deficiency. 

" The steamships of the world,'' he says, " may be roughly divided 
into three classes. These are, first, those belonging to mail lines, 
carrying passengers and mails, and leaving and arriving at certain 
ports at an advertised time, and with the greatest regularity possible 
under the circumstances. The second class consists of steamers not 
carrying the mails, and sometimes but a few passengers, chiefly devoted 
to the carrying trade, — cattle, grain, miscellaneous cargoes of ore and 
general products, — but plying with a certain regularity between stated 
ports. The third class comprises all steamers which, having no fixed 

22 305 



306 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

route, go to any port which offers the best terms for freight, wandering 
around the globe, and hardly touching at the same place twice. These 
latter are the ^ ocean tramp' class of steamships, on which in many 
cases opprobrium has been unjustly heaped." 

Of the first class of steamers, the two largest lines in the world are 
the British India Steam Navigation Company and the Austro-Hun- 
garian Lloyds. It is hard to say exactly wKich is the larger, but at 
present the steamers owned by each number about seventy-seven and 
seventy-nine respectively. The British India Company does its chief 
business, as its name indicates, with India and its dependencies, and 
the map which represents its different routes is a net-work of bewilder- 
ing lines. Every port in India is in communication with Calcutta, 
Bombay, and Madras by this company's steamships, and communica- 
tion with London is kept up by fortnightly steamers. This company 
runs steamers every fortnight also from London to the Persian Gulf 
and Bagdad, calling at Algiers ; and it has lately started a line to 
Brisbane in Queensland via Batavia. Its steamers have until lately 
been of medium size, but it is now building larger ships. Its vessels 
are named after Indian towns, etc., and the names are mostly very 
pretty, as " Merkara," " Dorunda," " Ellora," and others. 

" The chief lines from London to the Cape direct are the Union 
Steamship Company (thirteen steamers), and Donald Currie & Co.'s 
Castle line (twenty steamers), mostly large and fine ships, while the 
trading stations on the West Coast of Africa are supplied by the African 
Steamship Company, and the British and African Steam Navigation 
Company, with smaller steamers, more or less devoted to freight, al- 
though carrying the mails. 

^' Lamport & Holt also run a line from London to Brazil and the 
river Platte, some of the steamers returning to Liverpool via New 
York. This line has some thirty steamers of moderate size, named 
after scientific men, painters, and poets. 

" The City Line (City of London, of Venice, of Khios, etc.) is 
owned by George Smith & Sons, of Glasgow, who also own a large 
fleet of sailing ships. There are ten steamers in this line, all fine 
ships of 3000 tons. The Hall Line (Werneth Hall [4100], Breton 
Hall, etc.), owned by the Sun Shipping Company, and the Star Line 
('^ Vega," " Orion," etc.) are favorite lines for India, as is also the 
Ducal Line (Duke of Lancaster, etc.), which has some very fine ships, 
seven in all. These last-named lines all come more or less under the 
second heading of combined passenger and freight steamers. 

'^ Hamburg sends out lines to Panama (Hamburg-American Steam- 
ship Company), to Brazil (Hamburg-South American Steamship Com- 
pany), to Valparaiso (Kosmos Steamship Company). It is not gener- 
ally known, however, that the French Transatlantic Company by no 
means confines its operations in America to its New York business, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 307 

but has some fine steamers running to Aspinwall, Vera Cruz^ and the 
West Indies. 

" Turning to the Pacific Ocean, we find only one English line con- 
necting America with Asia, — the Oriental and Occidental Steamship 
Company, which is really a part of the White Star Line. The fine 
steamers '^ Arabic'^ and "Coptic,'' of 4300 tons each, which were built 
last year, and ran a short time on the Atlantic, have now their place 
in the O. and O. Company's fleet. 

"' Turning, then, to the second class of steamers, the organized lines 
of ' freighters,' we find in this category many lines of fine ships, so 
many, in fact, it will be impossible to mention more than a few. At 
the head of this class stands the firm of Thomas Wilson, Sons & Co., 
of Hull. They own fifty ships, averaging fully one thousand five 
hundred tons each, their names all ending in ^ o.' Besides the lines of 
steamers running from Hull to Boston and New York, — only a tithe of 
their immense business, — Wilson & Co. dispatch ships to all ports of 
the Baltic, to Germany, Holland, and France, and even to Constanti- 
nople. Their business is rapidly increasing, and they have built within 
a few years a number of large ships, chiefly for their Atlantic trade. 

'^McGregor, Gow & Co., of Glasgow, own the Glen Line of 
steamers (not to be confounded with another line of Glen steamers 
owned by Lindsay, Gracie & Co., of Leith), fifteen in all, employed in 
the China and Japan trade, noted as tea-ships. They are of moderate 
size, and of a good model. The ^ Stirling Castle,' of 4423 tons, which 
has earned the name of being the fastest steamer in the world, belongs 
to another ' tea' line of nine steamers, owned by Thomas Skinner, of 
Glasgow, named after Scottish castles. Another China line is the 
Ocean Steamship Company, owned by Alfred Holt, Liverpool, twenty- 
four steamers of about 2000 tons, named from Homeric characters. 
Warren & Co., of Liverpool, although they own only three steamers 
(the ships not named after States being, according to the registers, char- 
tered), have in those three, the ^Missouri' (5146), the ^Kansas' (5276), 
and the ^ Iowa' (4329), the largest freighters on one line in the world. 
The 'Hooper' (4935) has been taken off the Boston Line for some 
time, and now, with her name changed to the 'Silvertown,' is running 
in her old capacity of a telegraph ship. Another line of ' freighters' 
of large tonnage is that owned by Nott & Hill, of London, — the ' Not- 
ting Hill,' the ' Tower Hill,' and the ' Ludgate Hill,'— all over 4000 
tons. In fact, large freight steamers are fast becoming common, and 
lines which have hitherto built ships of 2000 tons are now building 
vessels of 4000 tons and over. A line of steamers which has recently 
sprung into prominence, and which illustrates the rapidity with which 
steamers are built nowadays, is the ' Clan Line,' owned by Messrs. 
Cayzer, Irvine & Co., of Liverpool. In 1878 this company had about 
five steamers, but such has been the wonderful growth of the line that 



308 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

at present there are twenty-one steamers, either now running or in 
course of construction ; most of them 2200 tons. They are all named 
after Scottish clans, as the * Clan Cameron/ etc. They run from Liver- 
pool to Calcutta, the Cape, and Mauritius." 

" The Marquis de Campo, of Cadiz, has lately become prominent 
as a ship owner, employing steamers in the Manila and the Havana 
and the Mexican trade. Nearly all his ships have been bought of 
other lines, and we may discover among them some old friends. Every 
one who has crossed the Atlantic in the famous old * China' will be glad 
to know of her present situation. She is now the ^ Magellanes' of De 
Campo's Line, while the ^ Siberia' figures as the ' Manila,' and the 
Warren steamer ^ Minnesota' assumes her place as the ^ Cristobal Colon.' 

*^ Passing over many important regular freight lines, we come to the 
third class, the general freighter, the vagabond class of steamer, the 
' ocean tramp,' which may be in Boston one month, Odessa the next, 
and Archangel the third. This is a much-abused class. Popular 
opinion is decidely against them. They are all supposed to be worth- 
less, rotten, poorly manned, and liable to founder in any sea heavier 
than that of a mill pond. That there are a great many to which this 
description will apply is too true. They founder, like the ^Escambia/ 
almost within the harbor, or more frequently are simply reported ^ miss- 
ing.' These unfortunate vessels mostly belong to individual owners 
or small lines. But there are large fleets of newly-built, stanch steamers 
employed in this useful trade, and at the head of the list stand Messrs. 
Watts, Ward & Milburn, of London, with about forty steamers, most 
of them comparatively new. Their steamers are found everywhere. 
Messrs. Appleby, Ropner & Co., London, is another large firm. The 
number of new companies started within the last few years for this 
business is surprising. At present they usually number some half a 
dozen vessels each, generally named as a distinct system. To enu- 
merate them would be tedious ; but we may single out Messrs. Rankin, 
Gilmour & Co., for their splendid steamer ^ St. Ronans,' of 4484 tons, 
a magnificent vessel, equal in every way in appearance to a transatlantic 
passenger steamer. 

" The few persons who pursue the shipping news have undoubtedly 
noticed the numbers of freighters arriving at Philadelphia and Balti- 
more from Benisaf and Rio Marina. These two places, which maps 
completely ignore, are situated in Algeria, near Bona, and in the island 
of Elba respectively. The freighters go there for ballast of iron ore, 
which they take to our Southern ports, receiving a full cargo for 
Europe in the place of the ore. 

" Of all these thousands of steamers so few are totally lost every 
year that when we think of the powers of Nature and the carelessness 
of man in sending unseaworthy ships to sea, we cannot help being sur- 
prised at the smallness of the number of casualities." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 309 

I84O. — The Ctjnard Line. — Mr. Samuel Cunard was one of the 
first to foresee the great results that might be achieved by the establish- 
ment of steamer communication between the United States and England, 
and as far back as the year 1830, in his quiet home in Nova Scotia, 
was thinking over the best means of carrying out this project. In 
1838, Mr. Cunard went to England, bent upon putting his idea into 
operation, and, introduced by Sir James Melville, of the India House, 
he presented himself to Eobert Napier, the eminent marine engineer, 
and the result of their deliberations was that Mr. Cunard gave Mr. 
Napier an order to build four steamships for the Atlantic service. The 
four vessels were to be of 900 tons each, and 300 horse-power. Mr. 
Napier advised the building of larger vessels, and ultimately it was 
arranged that the four vessels should each be of 1200 tons burden and 
440 horse-power. 

The project now assumed a proportion beyond the resurces of a 
private individual, and Messrs. Cunard and Napier, taking counsel 
together, hit upon the idea of forming a company. Messrs. Burns, of 
Glasgow, and Messrs. Maclver, of Liverpool, after having run coasting 
steamers in keen rivalry for several years, in 1830 amalgamated their 
undertakings, and this firm of Burns & Maclver was at the time that 
Mr. Cunard came to England one of the most prosperous shipping 
companies in Great Britain. The proposal to form an Atlantic steam- 
ship company was mooted to Messrs. Burns & Maclver by Mr. Napier, 
and the outcome was the establishment, in 1839, of the "British and 
North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company." This official 
title being rather lengthy for hurried utterance, a convenient substitute 
was found in the simple phrase, " Cunard Line.'' This phrase has 
now become familiar as a nautical term from Sandy Hook to the Suez 
Canal, and from Scotland to the West Indies. Samuel Cunard may 
be justly regarded as the father of the line, and his enterprising part- 
ners, the Mad vers and Burnses, have shown themselves to be quite 
adequate to the grave responsibilities which they then assumed. About 
this time the government decided, on grounds of public convenience, 
as well as with the view of promoting the extension of steam naviga- 
tion, to abandon the curious old brigs which had been used for so many 
years for the conveyance of the mails across the Atlantic and to substi- 
tute steam mail-boats. The Admiralty accordingly advertised for ten- 
ders for this service, and the Great Western Steam Shipping Company 
and the newly-formed company of Messrs. Cunard, Burns & Maclver 
were the only competitors. The tender of the latter firm was accepted, 
and a seven years' contract was entered into between the Lords of the 
Admiralty on the one part, and Samuel Cunard, George Burns, and 
David Maclver on the other part, for the conveyance of mails fort- 
nightly between Liverpool and Halifax, Boston, and Quebec, in con- 
sideration of the annual sum of £60,000. One of the conditions of 



310 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

the bargain was that the ships engaged in this service should be of 
sufficient strength and capacity to be used as troop-ships in case of 
necessity. The first four ships built under Mr. Napier's direction for 
the Cunard Company were the ''Britannia/' the '^ Acadia," the "Cale- 
donia/' and the '^ Columbia." The "Unicorn" was dispatched from 
Liverpool on the 16th of May, 1840, to be placed on the branch route 
to Newfoundland, and made the passage to Boston in nineteen days. 

There was considerable excitement in Boston on the afternoon of 
Tuesday, June 2, 1840, when it was announced that Mr. Cunard's 
steamship " Unicorn," Captain Douglas, was entering the harbor. 
The arrival of the first regular steam-packet from Europe had been 
looked forward to with interest, as marking a most important epoch in 
the commercial relations of the New World and the Old. The people, 
young and old, men, women, and children, assembled as the " Unicorn" 
approached Long Wharf, and the scene on water and land was in- 
spiring and enthusiastic. Cheers rent the air, handkerchiefs and hats 
were waved, as the " Unicorn" approached. The United States ship- 
of-the-line " Columbus," moored in the channel, hoisted the English 
ensign at the fore, and her band played the national tunes of England 
and the United States, and the revenue cutter "Hamilton," which 
made a gallant appearance dressed in flags and bunting, fired a salute. 
For a short time the " Unicorn" " lay to" off the wharf, and as Cap- 
tain Sturgis, commanding the " Hamilton," stepped on board and ten- 
dered a welcome to Captain Douglas, a round of cheers went up from 
the crowd. Then the '^ Unicorn" steamed along the water-front and 
wharves to the vicinity of the navy-yard, and proceeded to the Cunard 
wharf at East Boston, which had been recently built, and at that time 
was considered elegant and spacious in every respect. As she passed 
the revenue cutter she was again saluted, and returned the salute. 
Salutes were also fired from the wharf On two lofty flag-staffs erected 
on the extremity of the wharf British and American ensigns were 
hoisted. When moored at the wharf many people hastened on board 
to exchange congratulations with the captain, officers, and passengers. 

The " Unicorn" encountered a good deal of rough weather on her 
voyage, but proved a good and stanch boat. Her machinery worked 
well, and the passengers were well pleased with their accommodations. 
She brought out twenty-seven cabin passengers to Halifax, and twenty- 
four to Boston, and files of London papers to the 15th of May, of 
Liverpool papers to the 16th, and of Paris papers to the 13th. 

The day following her arrival the Boston newspapers were full of 
copious extracts from the foreign papers which the " Unicorn" brought, 
and which were appended to the short notice of the important event. 
Regret was expressed that the political and commercial intelligence by 
the arrival was not more important, but the heading, " Sixteen Days 
Later from Europe !" clearly indicated that one of the most impor- 



\ 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION, 311 

tant advantages that was anticipated by the opening of steamship com- 
munication between Boston and Liverpool was the quicker exchange of 
news with the Old World. 

The arrival of the " Unicorn" was the talk of the city, and the 
city felt called upon to take proper recognition of so significant an 
occurrence, and three days later, on Friday, June 5, the city authori- 
ties extended a welcome to Samuel Cunard, Jr., a son of Samuel Cu- 
nard, and Captain Douglas, commander of the '' Unicorn," at Faneuil 
Hall. The cradle of liberty was beautifully festooned with the flags 
of the United States and Great Britain, and was otherwise decorated in 
a very tasteful manner. The city officials and invited guests marched 
in procession to the hall from the old City Hall, where a banquet had 
been prepared for about four hundred and fifty persons. Hon. Jonathan 
Chapman, the Mayor of Boston, acted as the presiding officer and mas- 
ter of ceremonies. In his address of welcome he enlarged upon the 
vast importance to Boston of steam navigation with Europe in connec- 
tion with the western railroad. The sentiment which he offered in 
conclusion was : " Commercial enterprise — it waked up the dark ages; 
it launched mankind upon the sea of improvement; it guided the bark 
and spread the sail until a sail is no longer needed to join the two con- 
tinents together." Mr. Cunard, Jr., was then called up, and made a 
pleasant response, and the band played ^' God Save the Queen." Com- 
mander Douglas gave a brief account of the voyage, and said the 
steamers that were being built for the line were to be much larger, and 
he had reason to believe that the passage would be made in fifteen 
days. To a toast in honor of England and America, Hon. Mr. Grat- 
tan, her Britannic Majesty^s consul, responded, and then, the Mayor 
calling for volunteer toasts, there followed the most sparkling wit and 
sentiment. Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, then Speaker of the House, 
made an eloquent speech, and, referring to the dictum of Dr. Diony- 
sius Lardner, that steam navigation across the ocean was physically im- 
possible, said that, to all appearances, it was quite as improbable as the 
scientific doctor's late elopement to France with Mrs. Heaviside. The 
poet Longfellow offered this beautiful sentiment: "Steamships, — the 
pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, which guide the wanderer 
over the sea." The Chevalier de Friederichsthal, attached to the 
Austrian embassy at Washington, M. Gourand, from Paris, and other 
distinguished foreigners, John P. Bigelow, John C. Park, Hon. George 
S. Hillard, Nathaniel Greene, then postmaster of Boston, and others, 
offered appropriate sentiments, and Governor Everett, who was not 
present, sent a letter. 

The celebration was creditable to the city and the event it com- 
memorated, but nevertheless evoked the criticism of censorious individ- 
uals, who evidently did not understand or agree with the old proverb, 
that the way to a people's heart is through their stomach. In com par- 



312 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

ison with steamships which now enter Boston and New York, the 
" Unicorn" was small and insignificant, and yet the arrival of no craft 
was ever looked forward to with greater anticipation or more genuine 
pleasure. 

With the arrival of the " Unicorn" began the steam traffic between 
Boston and London and Liverpool, which has since assumed such 
large proportions. Its coming marked a new era in civilization, and 
was the harbinger of an immense commercial traffic, and a wonderful 
rapidity of communication between the !N'ew World and the Old. 
Over forty years have elapsed, and ocean steamers daily arrive, but 
they excite little interest now. 

The " Unicorn" was followed by a coincidence which was entirely 
unintentional by the departure on the 4th of July from Liverpool of 
the " Britannia," under command of Lieutenant Woodruff, R.N., 
for Halifax and Boston, the first regular vessel of the Cunard Line. 
Liverpool was in a condition of great excitement on the day of the 
vessel's departure; thousands of people crowded the quays to watch 
her out, and it was felt that a new era of oceanic intercourse had been 
begun by this memorable event. 

The "Britannia" entered Boston harbor after a run of fourteen 
days and eight hours. The ship came to her moorings on a Saturday 
evening, but the inhabitants of Boston thronged the wharves to wel- 
come her, and salvos of artillery were fired in honor of the occasion. 
Mr. Cunard, Sr., accompanied the vessel, and so great was the enthu- 
siasm created by his enterprise that he received eighteen hundred 
invitations to dinner within twenty-four hours after his arrival. On 
the 17th of August the *^ Acadia" arrived at Boston, after a passage of 
twelve days and eighteen hours ; the shortest passage between the two 
continents which had been made. Three days later a public banquet 
was given in honor of the event, at which Hon. Josiah Quincy presided. 
For seven years these four steamers, re-enforced by two others, carried 
out the contract with the government. At the end of that time the 
British government called upon the company to double the number of 
its sailings, and every new steamer was, in some respects, an improve- 
ment upon its predecessors. 

Charles Dickens crossed in the '^ Britannia," and one of the most 
amusing chapters of his "American Notes" is devoted to the voyage. 

Some readers may recall how comically he contrasts his actual 
experiences with his anticipations of what the ship would be like, 
his imagination having been fed previous to his going on board by 
the lithographic pictures of the line, — what " an utterly impracticable, 
thoroughly hopeless, and profoundly preposterous box" he found his 
state-room to be ; and how he describes the saloon as " a long, narrow 
apartment, not unlike a gigantic hearse with windows in the sides; 
having at the upper end a melancholy stone, while on either side, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 313 

extending down its whole dreary length, was a long, long table, over 
each of which a rack, fixed to the low roof and stuck full of drinking- 
glasses and cruet-stands, hinted dismally at rolling seas and heavy 
weather.'^ 

A notable event in the history of the ^' Britannia," the pioneer 
ship of the Cunard Line, which became a great favorite in Boston, was 
the cutting a channel for ten miles in length, in Boston harbor, in 
1844, through the ice, in order that she might sail at the appointed 
time. ^' Those who remember the month of February, 1844, will recall 
one of the most astonishingly cold periods of the last fifty years. The 
first of the month was agreeable enough for winter, but three or four 
days of intense cold came upon us about' the middle of it. Ice rapidly 
formed in the harbor, and soon the whole distance from the wharves to 
Fort Warren was frozen over. Men, w^omen, and children enjoyed the 
novel experience of walking all over the harbor. Skaters went to the 
outermost edge of the ice. Horses and sleighs entered on the ice-field 
from South Boston. Booths were established for the supply of creature 
comforts, bonfires lighted to warm the hands and feet of pedestrians, 
the earliest ice-craft with extended sail was seen skimming over the 
smooth surface, and the days and nights in the harbor partook of a 
carnival. But it was a serious matter to the agent of the Cunard Line, 
who had the steamer ^ Britannia' in port, and she was under contract 
to carry the mails, and must somehow get out to sea. Bostonians had 
some interest in the matter, too, for the line had but recently been 
established, and here was a fulfillment of the prophecy of the jealous 
New Yorkers, who had said it was an ice-locked harbor in winter. 
With characteristic energy and public spirit the merchants met at the 
Exchange one day, as the time for the sailing of the steamer neared, 
and no south wind had come to loosen the frost's hold on the waters, 
and resolved upon the undertaking of cutting a channel for the steamer 
from her dock to the open bay, — a pathway of over ten miles. Mr'. 
John Hill, with some experience in ice-cutting, was selected for the job, 
but it proved too much for him. At this juncture Mr. Jacob Hittinger, 
of Gage, Hittinger & Co., large ice-cutters upon Spy Pond, in West 
Cambridge, contracted with the merchants to liberate the steamer. 
The task was accomplished, and the ^Britannia,' on her appointed 
sailing day, moved majestically through the canal, a hundred feet wide, 
to the open ocean, amid firing of cannon and the cheering of thousands, 
the multitudes not only lining all the wharves, but flocking upon the 
solid ice in countless numbers. Probably never again will we witness 
the spectacle of an ocean steamer moving down the harbor accompanied 
by thousands of people running or skating by her side. The tug-boats 
which have come into service by scores have rendered the freezing of 
the harbor practically impossible, as on the slightest indication of ice 
they are abroad to break it up. Gage, Hittinger & Co. received ten 



314 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



thousand dollars for this immense job, which actually cost them twenty- 
thousand dollars, but they enjoyed the satisfaction of being recognized 
as enterprising and successful men in the venture." ^ 

The Cunard steamers in the transatlantic trade, 1850, were: 



Tons H. P. 

Caledonia 1250 600 

Hibernia 1400 550 

Cambria 1400 550 

America 1800 700 

Canada 1800 700 



Tons H. P. 

Niagara 1800 700 

Europa 1800 700 

Asia 2250 800 

Africa 2250 80O 



All these were paddle-wheel steamships, and the general length of 
the six largest was 275 to 300 feet, and beam from 40 to 42 feet. 
Their cylinders were 90 inches in diameter, and the length of stroke 
of the piston of the 700 horse-power engines was 8 feet, and of the 
800 horse-power engines 9 feet. The diameter of the paddle-wheels 
was 32 and 36 feet. 

In 1852 the Cunard Company established steam communication 
between Liverpool and the Mediterranean ports. Their steamers have 
also performed the mail service between Glasgow, Greenock, and Bel- 
fast. They have had lines of steamers plying between Liverpool and 
Glasgow and Glasgow and Londonderry, and they likewise have had 
steamers carrying the mails between Halifax, Bermuda, and St. 
Thomas. 

Prior to 1852 the fleet of the Cunard Company consisted entirely 
of paddle-wheel wooden steamships. In that year the " Andes'' and 
" Alps," both iron vessels with screws, were added to the long " cata- 
logue of the ships." These were afterwards taken by the British gov- 
ernment for transport service in the Crimea, and were followed in 1854 
and 1855 by the ^' Jura" and "^tna," iron screws, and both for the 
Atlantic trade. In 1855, with the " Persia," the experiment was tried 
of building an iron paddle steamer. 

1S55. — On the 3d of March the steamship " Persia," the first iron 
paddle-wheel ship built for the Cunard Company, was launched from 
the building-yard of Messrs. Robert Napier & Sons, at Govan, She 
was the largest steamship then afloat in the world, exceeding in length, 
strength, tonnage, and steam-power the " Great Britain" or the " Hima- 
laya," and by twelve hundred tons the internal capacity of the largest 
of the Cunard liners of that time. Her chief proportions were as fol- 
lows : 

Length from figure-head to taffrail 390 feet. 

Length in the water 360 " 

Breadth of the hull < 45 '« 

Breadth all over 71 " 

Depth 32 " 



Commonwealih newspaper. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 315 

The lines of beauty had been so well worked out in the '' Persia" 
that her appearance was singularly graceful and light. Yet the mighty 
fabric, so beautiful as a whole, was made up of innumerable pieces of 
metal, welded, jointed, and riveted into each other with exceeding deft- 
ness. The keel consisted of several bars of iron about thirty-five feet 
in length, each joined by long scarfs, and as a whole thirteen inches 
deep by four and a half inches thick. The framing was constructed 
in a peculiar manner to secure the greatest amount of strength. The 
iron stern-post was thirteen inches in breadth by five inches in thick- 
ness, carrying the rudder, the stack of which was eight inches in diam- 
eter. The framing of the ship was very heavy. The space between 
each frame was only ten inches, and the powerful frames or ribs were 
themselves ten inches deep, with double angle-irons at the outer and 
inner edges. 

The plates, or outer planking of the ship, were laid alternately, so 
that one added strength to the other, forming a whole of wonderful 
compactness and solidity. The keel-plates were eleven-sixteenths of 
an inch in thickness ; at the bottom of the ship the plates were fifteen- 
sixteenths of an inch in thickness ; from that section to the load water- 
line they were three-fourths of an inch ; and above that they were 
eleven-sixteenths of an inch in thickness. The plates round the gun- 
wales were seven-eighths of an inch in thickness. 

She had seven water-tight compartments. The goods were to be 
stowed in two of the divisions. The goods store-rooms or tanks were 
placed in the centre line of the ship, with the coal-bunkers on each side 
of them. The vessel was constructed with a double bottom under the 
goods-chambers, so that if the outer were beat in, the inner would pro- 
tect the cargo dry and intact. The chambers were water-tight, and in 
the event of accident to the hull the tanks would of themselves float 
the ship. 

She was followed in 1862 by the '' Scotia," also built of iron, and 
of still larger dimensions.^ It soon became apparent that iron was the 

^ In the summer of 1879 the "Scotia" was bought by the British Telegraph 
Construction and Maintenance Company. Her paddles were removed and new en- 
gines and twin screws placed in her, and she sailed from the Mersey for Singapore. 
The " Scotia" was the last and grandest of the paddle-wheel vessels added to the 
Cunard fleet : a strong ship, of great engine power, and in her day the most magnifi- 
cent vessel engaged in the transatlantic trade between Liverpool and New York. 
But times changed with the " Scotia," as they do with all other things mundane. 
Her engines, though still of unrivaled power, consumed an enormous amount of 
coal, and coal was not only costly, but its storage filled an undue proportion of the 
available space. Science had introduced a new order of things in marine engines. 
The cumbrous paddles were superseded by the more compact screw, and the com- 
pound system of engines allowed of an equal power being realized at a far less 
expenditure of fuel. These improvements decided the fate of the "Scotia." We 
may well suppose that it was not without a severe qualm that the Cunard Company 
came to the resolution that their splendid " Scotia," while almost a new ship, must 



316 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

best material for ocean steamers, and that the screw furnished the best 
means of propelling them, and in all subsequent additions to the fleet 
these truths have been recognized and acted upon. 

Between 1840 (when the Cunard Company, strictly so-called, came 
into existence) and 1876 it had built one hundred and twenty-two 
steamers, and owned in that year a navy of forty-nine vessels, — viz., 
twenty-four in the Atlantic mail service, twelve in the Mediterranean 
and Havre line, five plying between Glasgow and Belfast, three be- 
tween Liverpool and Glasgow, three between Halifax and Bermuda, 
and two between Glasgow and Derry. The money value of the Atlan- 
tic mail boats alone was estimated at between fifteen million and twenty 
million dollars, and it would not be an exaggeration to state that the 
value of the entire fleet was double the amount. According to an 
official statement, made by the company about this time, a Cunard 
transatlantic steamer had sailed at first once a week, subsequently twice 
a week, and latterly three times a week from Liverpool, and another 
from New York or Boston, making over four thousand voyages across 
the Atlantic, an aggregate distance of over twelve million miles, carry- 
ing more than two million passengers without the loss of a life or 
even of a single letter. 

Few people suspect that at least three of the old favorites are still 
running from New York to Europe; for how could they recognize the 
^' Russia,^' enlarged to nearly twice her former size in the " Waesland," 
the " Java," in the " Zealand,'' or the " Algeria,'' which disappeared so 
quietly as hardly to be missed in the '^ Pennland ?" 

It was said that the steamship " Russia," the last vessel built by 
the Cunard Company under a subsidy contract, cost more by £30,000 
than she would have cost if built for an independent service. 

For ten years in the early history of the Cunard Company each 
vessel carried a naval officer as a representative of the Admiralty (in 
those days the mail contracts were made by the Lords of the Admiralty 
instead of by the postmaster-general, as now), who was clothed with 
power to act in certain emergencies, and who had control of the royal 
mails. The company, after a time, paid a round sum to be relieved of 
the presence of these officials. At a later period, representatives of the 
post-office were placed on board, who sorted and made up the mails on 
the voyage. 



give way to the new order of things. Screw steamers like the " Russia" and the 
" Scythia" were doing as good work under more favorable conditions, and the 
"Scotia" was withdrawn from the service. She was sold, and for a long time lay 
at Birkenhead, superannuated and almost neglected. And it should be borne in 
mind by those who criticise the deterioration of our navy that the " Scotia" was 
built after the commencement of our Civil War as a specimen of the finest steam- 
ship afloat, and that three years ago, only seventeen years after her construction, she 
was sold, having been for some time superannuated. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



317 



THE FLEET OF THE CUNARD LINE, 1882. 





Built 


Tonnage. 


Name. 


Built. 


Tonnage. 


Name. 


Built. 


Tonnage. 






Gross. 


Net. 




Gross. 


Net. 




Gross. 


Net. 


Aleppo . . 
Atlast . . . 
Batavia . . 
Bothnia* . 
Catalonia* 


1865 
1860 
1870 
1870 


2050 
2393 
2553 
4536 


1398 
1552 
1627 
2923 


Maltaf. . . 
Marathonf . 
Morocco . . 
[Olympus . 
Palmyra . . 
Parthia* . . 
Samariaf . 
Saragossa . 


1865 
1860 
1861 
1860 
1866 
1870 
1870 
1874 


1132 
2403 
1855 
2415 
2043 
3166 
2605 
2262 


1149 
1552 
1193 
1585 
1382 
2033 
1694 
1429 


Scythia* . . 
IServia* . . 
Sidont . . . 
TarifaJ . . 
Trinidad . 
jAurania . . 
Cephaloniag 
iPavoniaf . 


1874 
1881 
1861 
1865 
1872 
bldg 
1882 
1882 


4557 
8500 
1853 
2058 
1899 

560 u 


2923 
6500 
1193 
1399 
1228 


DemeraraJ 
Gallia* . . 


1872 


1904 


1231 


4350 


KedarJ . . 


1860 


1875 


1215 





* Between New York and Liverpool. 
X Mediterranean service. 



f Between Boston and Liverpool. 

§ Arrived at Boston on first trip, September 4, 1882. 



The transatlantic steamers of this line sail every Wednesday and 
Saturday from New York and from Boston for Liverpool, and as often 
from Liverpool for each of those ports. 

The report of the directors of the lately-formed Cunard Stock 
Company shows the net profits of the year 1880 amounted to one hun- 
dred and ninety-three thousand eight hundred and eleven pounds. 

The three steamers recently built are of steel. The " Aurania'^ is of 
seven thousand tons, and has engines of eight thousand five hundred 
horse-power ; and the " Pavonia/^ and her sister ship, the " Cepha- 
lonia/^ are of five thousand six hundred tons. The " Servia," one of the 
latest additions to the Cunard Line, arrived at New •York at 11 a.m., 
December 8, 1881. She left Queenstown at 10 a.m., November 28, 
and, taking into consideration the boisterous weather she encountered, 
the passage was a remarkably quick one. Her purser, Mr. William 
Field, said that he never experienced such a rough time, though he 
has held his present position for twenty-five years, having served in 
every ship on the line, and made over four hundred passages. No 
damage whatever occurred to the big craft. 

The " Servia" brought one hundred and seventy-one cabin passen- 
gers and one hundred and fifty-five in the steerage. In point of size 
the ^' Servia'^ is only exceeded by the '^ Great Eastern, '^ while, as re- 
gards engine-power, it is claimed that she surpasses anything afloat. 

Mr. John Burns, of the Cunard Company, in a communication to 
the London Times when the '^ Servia'^ was on the stocks, said, concern- 
ing her, — 

" This vessel has been designed, after lengthened consideration, to 
meet the requirements of our traditional service, and we have adopted 
in every detail of the ship and engines the most advanced scientific 
improvements compatible with the safe working of so great a vessel. 
Among the important matters into which we have crucially inquired 
has been that of the employment of steel instead of iron, and after a 
practical and thorough examination into the merits of both materials 
we have adopted steel for the hull and boilers, but under a provision 
so stringent that every plate, before acceptance, will undergo a severe 



318 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

and rigid test by a qualified surveyor appointed and stationed at the 
steel manufactory for that special purpose, and that the manipulation 
of the steel by the builders shall be subject to an equally careful super- 
vision by qualified engineers of our own appointment. The steel is to 
be made on the Siemens-Martin process, and all rivets as well as plates 
throughout the ship are to be of steel." 

The substitution of steel for iron has not only improved the steam- 
ship, steel being more ductile and stronger than iron, but it has a 
great advantage economically. The *^ Servia" weighs six hundred and 
twenty tons less than she would have done if she had been built 
equally strong with iron ; and of course she has so much greater 
carrying capacity. 

The ^^ Servians'' dimensions are : Length, 533 feet ; breadth, 52 
feet; depth, 44 feet 9 inches; gross tonnage, 8600 tons. A better 
idea, perhaps, of the vast size of the vessel may be gathered from the 
following facts : Her cargo capacity is 6500 tons, with 1800 tons of 
coal and 1000 tons of water ballast, the vessel having a double bottom, 
on the longitudinal bracket system. The anchor davits are 8 inches 
and the chain-cable pipe 22 inches in diameter. The propeller-shaft 
weighs 26J tons, and the propeller, boss, and blades are 38 tons in 
weight. The machinery consists of three cylinder compound surface 
condensing engines, one cylinder being 72 inches and two 100 inches in 
diameter, with a stroke of piston of 6 feet 6 inches. It is anticipated 
that the indicated horse-power will amount to 10,500. There are in 
all seven boilers, six of which are double- and one single-ended, and all 
are made of steel, with corrugated furnaces, the total number of fur- 
naces being 39. 

Practically, the " Servia" is a five-decker, as she is built with four 
decks and a promenade. The promenade, which is reserved for the 
passengers, is very large and spacious. On the fore part of it are the 
steam steering-gear and house, the captain's room, and flying bridge. 
On the upper deck forward is the forecastle, with accommodations for 
the crew, and lavatories and bath-rooms for steerage passengers, while 
aft are the light-towers for signaling the admiralty lights, with the 
lookout bridge on the top. Near the midship-house are the captain's 
and officers' sleeping-cabins. Next to the engine sky-light is the 
smoking-room, which can be entered from the deck or from the cabins 
below. It is unusually large for a smoking-room, being 30 feet long 
by 22 feet wide. Near the after-deck house is the ladies' drawing- 
room, to which access can be obtained either from the music- room or 
from the deck. Abaft of this, and in the upper end of the upper 
deck, is the music-room, which is 50 feet by 22 feet in dimensions, and 
which is fitted up in a handsome manner, with polished wood panel- 
ings. Immediately abaft of the music-room is the grand staircase 
leading to the main saloon and the cabins below on the main and lower 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 319 

decks. At the foot of the stair leading to the saloon, and also in the 
cabins, the panelings are of Hungarian ash and maple wood. The 
saloon is very large, being 74 feet long by 49 feet wide, with sitting 
accommodation for 350 persons, while the clear height under the beams 
is 8 feet 6 inches. The sides are all in fancy wood, with beautifully 
polished inlaid panels. All the upholstery of the saloon is of morocco 
leather. Right forward of the after-deck are the baths, lavatories, 
and state-rooms. The total number of state-rooms is 168, and the 
vessel has accommodation for 450 first-class and 600 steerage passen- 
gers, besides a crew of 200 officers and men. For two-thirds of its 
entire length the lower deck is fitted up with first-class state-rooms. 
The ship is divided into nine water-tight bulkheads. There are in all 
twelve boats equipped as life-boats. 

The arrangement of the water-tight doors in the engine- and boiler- 
spaces is admirable, as in case of accident they can be shut from the 
upper deck in two seconds or so. The keel is built in five layers, 
having a total thickness of six and three-quarter inches. The upper 
deck, which is of steel, has a covering of yellow pine; the main deck, 
which is also of steel, is covered with teak, and the lower deck, again 
of steel, is shielded with teak above the engine- and boiler-spaces. 
The deck-houses and deck-fittings, which in unusually heavy weather 
might otherwise be liable to be carried away, are made of iron and 
steel, and are riveted to the decks underneath. The " Servia'' is built 
with a double bottom, so that in the event of her running on the rocks 
and having a hole knocked in her hull, she would still be perfectly 
safe as long as the inner skin remained intact. She has three masts of 
the special Cunard rig, and they carry a good spread of canvas to 
assist in propelling her. She is fitted with steam stearing-gear, steam 
winches, and a second steering-gear, independent of the steam appa- 
ratus. The latest scientific improvements have been adopted in all 
parts of the vessel ; steam is used for warming the cabins and saloons, 
and every passage has its own seriers of ventilators. 

On her trial trip she repeatedly attained a speed of 20 J miles an 
hour. This is equivalent to about 18 knots. During the trial she 
carried 2500 tons of dead weight aboard. 

In former days it was held that the ratio of indicated horse-power 
in the engines to the tons burden of the vessel should be as one to four. 
In the '' Great Eastern," with her propeller and paddle-wheels the 
ratio was as one to fourteen. But in the " Servia" and other new boats 
the number of indicated horse-power is greater than the number of 
tons burden. The engines are exceedingly powerful, even when the 
size of the vessel is considered ; and hence the frame-work of the hull 
has to be made with great rigidity and with the utmost care. The in- 
crease in speed attained by these changes can only be demonstrated by 
experience ; but it seems to be the opinion of many nautical men that, 



320 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

with such heavy engines, the jar given to hull will make the " Servia" 
and vessels of her class less comfortable as passenger crafts than some 
of the older and smaller transatlantic steamers. 

In 1859 in recognition of the great service he had rendered to the 
United Kingdom, the queen, upon the recommendation of Lord Pal- 
merston, conferred a baronetcy upon Mr. Samuel Cunard. He was 
succeeded, on his death, both in his business and his title, by his son 
Edward, who continued his connection with the company up to the 
time of his decease, in 1869, when the title devolved upon the present 
baronet. Sir Bache Edward Cunard. Sir Bache, who is a great polo 
player and intimate of the Prince of Wales, was born in 1851, and 
has not been connected with the undertaking originated by his distin- 
guished grandfather. The only member of the Cunard family now 
associated with the Cunard steamship enterprise is Mr. William Cu- 
nard, the second son of Sir Samuel, and uncle of the present baronet. 

Mr. David Maclver died a few years after the formation of the 
line. Sir Samuel and his son, Sir Edward, died later. George and 
James Burns retired from business in favor of two sons of the former, 
John and James Cleland. 

Until the year 1868 the management of the Cunard Company was 
carried on, as it were, in three divisions. There were the Messrs. 
Maclver, at Liverpool, the Messrs. Burns, at Glasgow, and the Messrs. 
Cunard, in America. Together they constituted the Cunard Company, 
but they conducted the business as three distinct undertakings. In 
1863 a fresh deed of partnership was executed, by which Messrs. 
Cunard, Burns, and Maclver became the sole partners, as well as joint 
managers. This arrangement continued in force until May, 1878, 
when the concern was merged into a limited liability company, with a 
capital of |2,000,000. Of this, $1,200,000 was taken by Messrs. 
Cunard, Burns, and Maclver as part payment for the property and 
business which they transferred to the new company. No shares were 
offered to the public. By a rule of the London Stock Exchange, how- 
ever, two-thirds of the capital of any undertaking quoted in their 
official list must be allotted to the public. To meet this requirement, 
Messrs. Cunard, Burns, and Maclver consented to relinquish £533,340 
of their capital for the benefit of the public. This was done in March, 
1880, and the demand for shares thrown open was enormously in excess 
of what was available. 

Mr. William Cunard, one of the managing directors of the com- 
pany in 1881, is the second son of Sir Samuel, who founded the com- 
pany, and was created a baronet by the queen for his enterprise in 
transatlantic steam navigation. For many years the Cunard Company 
received a subsidy of £176,340 per annum under its mail contracts, 
but for some years past the only compensation the line has received for 
carrying the mails has been one-third of the actual postage paid. The 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 321 

steamships of the company are, however, as formerly, inspected on the 
day before sailing from England by officers of the Board of Trade. 
When first established they carried an officer of the Royal Navy as mail 
agent ; but that practice has been discontinued. 

It is remarkable to note the extraordinary progress achieved since 
the "Britannia^^ made her first voyage in 1840. Measuring 1139 
tons, she had capacity for but 225 tons of cargo, whereas the " Bothnia,'^ 
of 4335 tons, built in 1874, takes 3000 tons of cargo, or nearly four- 
teen times as much, though only four times larger. The " Britannia'^ 
carried ninety passengers, whereas the '' Bothnia'' can carry three hun- 
dred and forty-nine, or close upon four times as many. The former 
steamed eight and a half knots, the latter steams thirteen knots an 
hour, or more than half as quick again, with less than half the coal 
per indicated horse-power per hour, and at about the same quantity of 
fuel for the actual number of miles run. The '^ Persia/' the finest 
vessel afloat in her day, took six tons of coal to carry a ton of freight 
across the Atlantic. The ^' Arizona," double the size of the " Persia," 
takes only a fifth of a ton. 

The " Cephalonia" was launched in the Mersey May, 1882, and is 
the largest steamer ever built on that river. Her dimensions are as 
follows : Length on upper deck, 440 feet ; length between perpendicu- 
lars, 430 feet; beam, 46 feet; depth in hold, 34 feet 6 inches; ton- 
nage, B. M., 4350 tons ; gross register, about 5600 tons. The " Ceph- 
alonia" is constructed of iron, and is fitted to carry upward of one 
hundred first-class passengers, and one thousand, five hundred steerage. 
She has four decks, three of which are of iron, covered with wood- 
planking. Her rig is that of a barque. The masts are of steel, the 
fore and main being in one piece up to the top-mast head, and mizzen 
in one piece its whole length. The engines are two thousand five hun- 
dred horse- power, and have two cylinders, the high pressure one being 
fifty-two inches diameter, and the low pressure ninety-three inches 
diameter, with a stroke piston of five feet six inches. The propeller 
is four-flanged, and of the best steel. The boilers are six in number. 
The appliances for discharging cargo include five very powerful steam 
winches. The capstans and the steering apparatus are also worked by 
steam. 

The " Cephalonia" has several unique features, distinguishing her 
from other large ocean steamers. One is that of Sir George Thomp- 
son's sounding machinery, by which soundings can be made to a depth 
of sixty fathoms while the vessel is going at the rate of fifteen miles 
an hour. She has also appliances for steering, both by steam and by 
hand, there being two for the former and three for the latter. She 
carries six officers, eight engineers, and two electricians. The " Cepha- 
lonia" excels in the completeness of the electric light system, which, in 
some respects, is in advance of anything yet used on the Atlantic. 

23 



322 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

There are three hundred and forty of the Swan incandescent lamps on 
board, ready for use in the day as well as night. They are so contrived 
that the light falls within the chimney of a regular oil-lamp, which 
can be used in case of accident to the former. A pair of powerful en- 
gines and one of Dr. Siemens's electric machines are steadily employed 
under the management of an electrician for the production of the light. 

She left Liverpool on her first trip August 24, 1882, at 3 p.m., and 
arrived at Boston, September 4, bringing 141 cabin and 406 steerage 
passengers. No fair wind was had during the whole trip, and in con- 
sequence the *' Cephalonia'^ was not able to utilize her square sails, but 
with the exception of one or two stoppages to attend to the requirements 
of the machinery, no delay was encountered. The speed attained dur- 
ing the trip was fourteen knots. 

The new Cunard steamship " Pavonia,^^ Captain McKay, arrived 
at Boston, October 30, 1882, from Liverpool. The " Pavonia" is a 
sister ship to the " Cephalonia.'^ Her length is 430 feet, breadth 46 
feet, and depth 47 feet. There are accommodations for over 200 cabin 
and 1000 steerage passengers. The saloon extends across the vessel, 
and the smoking-room is situated on the promenade deck. The ladies' 
cabin, which is a marvel of beauty, is situated on the main deck. The 
vessel has eleven water-tight compartments, with three solid iron decks. 
A special feature in the construction of this steamer is the strength and 
number of her transverse water-tight bulkheads, the eleven compart- 
ments being divided into smaller ones. Besides the steam stearing- 
gear, which is. located aft, but is worked from the bridge, there is a 
powerful screw-gear and an arrangement for working the vessel with 
ropes in the event of any accident. The forecastle, which is 92 feet 
long, contains storage-room for the passengers and accommodation for 
the seameii. Back of the forecastle, in the after deck, there is a pleas- 
ant promenade to the turtle back, the deck being clear on both sides. 
The first-class state-rooms are on the main deck, and their average size 
is about 11 X 6 feet. Each state-room is provided with an electric 
light which can be regulated by the occupant. The engines are of the 
two-cylinder, inverted, vertical type, being 53 and 92 inches in diam- 
eter, and having 5 feet 6 inches stroke. The " Pavonia" was built by 
Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, of Glasgow, and is intended to go at the 
rate of fourteen knots per hour at sea. 

The "GalliaV model received a first-prize gold medal at the Paris 
Exhibition. She was barque-rigged, and built after the general design 
of the *^ Scythia" and " Bothnia," but she is longer and wider than either. 
Her length is 450 feet over all, her molded width 44 feet, and her 
depth of hold 36 feet, with a measurement capacity of 4809 tons. 
Her machinery includes the latest improvements. She has three com- 
pound direct-acting cylinder engines, two of them being 84 inches in 
diameter, and the third 61 inches; the piston-stroke being 60 inches, 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 323 

affordiDg a nomiDal force of 700 horse-power, which, however, can be 
increased, should necessity demand, to over 3000 horse-power. She 
has state-room accommodations for 480 first-class passengers, and has 
equally large accommodation for steerage passengers. The cabin fit- 
tings and arrangements, and the state-rooms, are unusually fine. The 
principal dining-saloon is on the spar deck, and is lighted by a series 
of top and side lights. It is floored with oak parquetry of Belgian 
manufacture, and the walls are inlaid with Japenese paneling upon a 
ground of red jasper, with gold tracery. There are sideboards and 
mirrors, a piano, and a large library. The second dining-saloon (on 
the main deck) is furnished with taste, and both have revolving sofa 
chairs at the tables. On the upper deck there is a '^ Ladies' boudoir/' 
and a " Ladies' cabin" on the spar deck, the latter being paneled with 
Brazilian onyx, and richly upholstered in blue. A commodious and 
beautifully fitted smoking-room for gentlemen is on the main deck. 
The state-rooms and berths are large, well ventilated, and fitted with 
many improvements, including stationary wash-basins and steam-heaters 
of a new pattern. They all communicate by means of pneumatic bells 
in the steward's department. The vessel carries a crew of one hundred 
and thirty men. 

With a history extending over forty busy years, with a fleet that 
has comprised from the beginning one hundred and twenty-six large 
steamers, with a constant floating population of many thousands to 
protect, and with all the dangers of wind and wave to battle against, 
it might naturally be supposed that the Cunard Company would have 
a long list of disastrous accidents, shipwrecks, and losses to recount; 
but it is the boast of the proprietors of the Cunard Line that from 
1840 down to the present time not one of their passengers has lost his 
life by accident in any of the thousands of voyages that have been 
made across the Atlantic in their ships, and the few accidents which 
have happened to the machinery or otherwise have only resulted in 
temporary delays, without endangering the safety of the passengers. 
Many things have combined to secure to the Cunard ships this astonish- 
ing immunity from disaster. In the first place, the company have 
always insisted on having their vessels built of the best possible mate- 
rials ; they have enjoined the most thorough workmanship ; they have 
kept their vessels under such careful supervision as to insure the dis- 
covery of the slightest defect in strength or seaworthiness, and they have 
never allowed a steamer to start on a voyage unless they have been 
satisfied of its being complete, perfect, and efficient. In the next place, 
they have chalked out separate routes for outward bound and home- 
ward bound steamers, somewhat apart from the direct course; and 
although by adopting this plan they may have lengthened their voyages 
by a few hours, this has been more than atoned for by the increased 
sense of security which has been induced. The care and skill exercised 



324 HISTORY OF 8TEAM NAVIGATION. 

by the navigation of the Cunard Line of steamers have been amply 
rewarded by the prosperity and success which have attended them. 

From the year 1840 down to the present time (November, 1882) 
the company have built 126 steamers, and their entire fleet now com- 
prises 31 steamships, having an aggregate tonnage of 87,604 tons and 
55,445 effective horse-power. The company employ, one way and 
another, from 10,000 to 12,000 men. Upward of 1500 are constantly 
engaged in the work of loading and unloading, and nearly that number 
in fitting and repairing vessels. They have always from 7000 to 8000 
sailors employed, and these men may be regarded as among the finest 
men to be found in the whole merchant service. 

18Jf,0. — The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation 
Company. — The career of this company, the first to undertake to 
convey the mails overland to the East, is interesting. During the 
earlier part of its career, by agreeing to carry the Peninsular mails for 
a sum considerably less than the Admiralty packets, with a speed and 
regularity hitherto unknown, it conferred an undoubted boon upon 
the public. 

In 1815 Mr. Brodie McGhee Wilcox, a young man without 
influence and but limited pecuniary means, commenced business in 
London as a ship broker and commission merchant. He soon after 
engaged a youth from the Orkney Islands, Arthur Anderson, as his 
clerk, who became his partner in 1825, under the title of Wilcox & 
Anderson. In 1834 the Dublin and London Steam-Packet Company 
chartered the steamer " Royal Tar'' to Dom Pedro through the agency 
of the firm. Soon afterwards the Spanish minister in Loudon induced 
Messrs. Bourne, of Dublin, to put on a line of steamers between 
London and the Peninsula, for which Wilcox & Anderson were ap- 
pointed agents. A small company was formed to carry out this under- 
taking. Previously to September, 1837, the Peninsular mails were 
conveyed by sailing-packets, which left Falmouth, England, for Lisbon 
every week, "wind and weather permitting." The Peninsular Com- 
pany of Steam-PacKets, some little time established, on the 29th of 
August, 1837, contracted to convey the Peninsular mails for £29,600 
per annum, subsequently reduced to £20,500 per annum. This service 
may be considered the nucleus of the great company which now con- 
veys the mails to all parts of the Eastern world. The " Iberia," the 
first steamer dispatched with the Peninsular mails, sailed in September, 
1837. 

The mails were conveyed to and from India up to September, 
1840, by steamers plying monthly between Bombay and Suez, and 
thence by British government steamers from Alexandria to Gibraltar, 
where they received the mails brought out by the Peninsular Company 
from England. In 1839 the British government entered into a con- 
vention with the French government for sending letters to and from 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 325 

India through France by way of Marseilles. The irregularities that 
ensued caused the British government to apply to the managers of the 
Peninsular Company to run a line of superior steamers direct from 
England to Alexandria, and vice versa, touching only at Gibraltar and 
Malta. The vessels approv^ed by the Admiralty were the *^ Oriental," 
of 1600 tons and 450 horse-power, and the "Great Liverpool,'' of 
1540 tons and 464 horse-power, which was originally intended for the 
transatlantic service. These were now dispatched with the mails from 
England to Alexandria, Egypt, thus combining the two mail services 
and constituting the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com- 
pany. In 1842 the East India Company contracted with the Penin- 
sular Company to establish a line of steamers between Calcutta and 
Suez, and September 24, 1842, its new ship, " Hindostan," of 1800 
tons and 520 horse-power, w^as sent from Southampton to open a line 
between Calcutta, Madras, Ceylon, and Suez. The government went 
into another contract with the company for a monthly service from 
Ceylon to Penang, Singapore, and Hong-Kong, and in 1854 the com- 
pany undertook another line between Bombay and Suez. They next 
extended a line between India and the Australian colonies. All these 
lines were heavily subsidized. The urgent requirements of govern- 
ment for conveying troops to the Black Sea and the Baltic on the out- 
break of the Crimean war obliged the company, towards the close of 
1854, to discontinue the line to Australia and to reduce the Bombay 
and China service from a fortnightly to a monthly line. During the 
Crimean \var this company had eleven of their steamers, measuring 
18,000 tons, in the transport service, which conveyed during the con- 
tinuance of hostilities 1800 officers, 60,000 men, and 15,000 horses. 
The "Himalaya,'' the largest vessel of the line at this time, was 340 
feet in length, 44J feet width of beam, and her engines were 2050 
indicated horse-power. She was 3540 tons, old measurement, and cost 
£132,000 when complete for sea. 

Thus, step by step, the company advanced, until we learn from its 
annual report ending September 30, 1874, its paid-up capital at that 
time amounted to £2,700,000 and £800,000 debenture stock, and that 
it was the intention during the year to increase it up to £4,300,000, of 
which £600,000 would remain unpaid. Of this capital, £3,757,000 
consisted of stock in ships; £221,000 of freehold and leasehold prop- 
erty and docks and premises in England, Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore, 
Hong-Kong, and other stations ; and £413,000 in coal and naval 
victualing stores. Its fleet at the same time consisted of 50 sea-going 
steamers, measuring 122,000 tons, and of 22,000 horse-power, — thirty- 
four being employed in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, India, and China 
services; four in the Australian service between Ceylon, Melbourne, 
and Sydney; five in the China and Japan local services; two used as 
cargo vessels; five undergoing repairs and in reserve. The company 



326 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

also possessed twelve steam- tugs and three cargo- and coal-hulks, and 
gave permanent employment to 12,600 persons, exclusive of coal 
laborers and coolies on shore ; about 90,000 tons of coal were usually 
kept constantly in stock at its coaling-stations. This was a navy 
which many governments might be proud to own. 

The iron screw steamship '^Khedive/' of this line, built in 1873, 
is of the following dimensions: Length, 380 feet; breadth, 42 feet; 
depth, 36 feet. Her builders' measurement is 3329 tons; her gross 
register, 3742 tons ; and her net register, 2092 tons. She is fitted to 
accommodate with the space and style now required for Eastern travel 
164 first-class and 53 second-class passengers. She has store-rooms 
to hold 380 tons; rooms for mails and baggage to contain 142 tons; 
bunkers to hold 846 tons of coal ; and holds which can receive 2003 
tons of cargo, of 50 feet to the ton. The contract price for the ship 
fitted complete for sea was £110,000. Her engines are compound, 
vertical, direct-acting, of 600 nominal horse-power, with 4 feet 6 inches 
length of stroke. The diameter of her cylinders, 69 and 96 inches 
respectively; and of her four-bladed screw, 17 feet 6 inches; its pitch 
being 22 feet 6 inches and 24 feet. She has 4 boilers and 16 furnaces. 
The five-bar surface is 320 square feet, and the heating and condensing 
surface 11,720 and 6059 square feet respectively. The loaded pressure 
is 55 pounds on her boilers. 

We have nothing in ancient times to compare with this model 
modern steamship, with her long, low hull, unless it be the rowing- 
galley, and to propel a vessel of the size and weight of the " Khedive^' 
at the rate of four miles an hour through the smoothest water would 
require at least two thousand rowers, while the average speed of the 
"Khedive'^ on a voyage from Alexandria to Southampton, a distance 
of 2982 miles, was ten knots, and on the return voyage eleven knots 
or nautical miles per hour. 

A new contract has been made with the Peninsular and Oriental 
Steam Navigation Company for the conveyance of the mails to India 
and China, for a period of eight years from the 1st of February, 1880, 
at the reduced subsidy of £370,000, being £60,000 per annum less 
than the sum paid under the then expiring contract. This payment 
may be further reduced at the option of the post-office authorities by 
£10,000 per annum, in consideration of the penalties not being made 
absolute. In this case, also, simultaneously with a reduction of cost, 
an increase of speed has been secured. The company is liable to a 
penalty of £100 for every twelve hours in excess of the contract time 
between Brindisi and Bombay on its outward voyages, and of £200 
for every twelve hours in such excess on its homeward voyages. 

In the service to and from the Cape of Good Hope, the two con- 
tracting companies, when their voyages go beyond three days in excess 
of the time allowed by their contracts (heavy penalties being incurred 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 327 

for one or more of these three days), are liable to a penalty of £6 5s. 
an hour for each complete hour in addition consumed on the voyage 
out or home. 

184,0. — The Pacific Steam Navigation Company. — The Pa- 
cific Steam Navigation Company sends out its ships from London 
eastward to Melbourne, westward to Valparaiso, and does a large coast- 
iug business on the west coast of South America. Its ships run to 
Australia under the name of the Orient Line, and are splendid speci- 
mens of steamers. To this line belong the '^ Orient,'^ 5386 tons, and 
the lately-finished steamer "Austral,"^ whose tonnage is 5588 tons 
gross. The Orient steamers go to Australia both via the Cape of Good 
Hope and via the canal. 

The first steamer on the Pacific coast was a small craft named the 
" Telica,'' commanded and owned by a Spaniard named Mitrovitch, but 
his career, as well as that of his vessel, was a short and melancholy one. 
In a fit of despair at his want of success he fired his pistol into a barrel 
of gunpowder, blowing up his vessel in the harbor of Guayaquil, and 
destroying himself and all on board except one man. This lamentable 
occurrence retarded the introduction of steam on the Pacific coast. 
But Mr. William Wheelwright, a native of Newburyport, Massachu- 
setts, then United States consul at Guayaquil, saw the great advantages 
of steam communication along the coast and between the several South 
American republics, and spent six of the best years of his life in ar- 
ranging for such communication. Failing to obtain the needed aid 
and encouragement for his plans in the United States, he proceeded to 
England, and on the 17th of February, 1840, just about the time that 
transatlantic steam navigation was an assured success, he obtained, 
'' under letters patent,'^ a charter for the establishment of the Pacific 
Steam Navigation Company, with a small subsidy for the conveyance 
of the British mails. 

The capital of the company was at first limited to two hundred 
and fifty thousand pounds, in five thousand shares of fifty pounds each. 
The whole capital was subscribed for, but only an amount was called 
up sufficient at the time to enable the directors to provide two boats, — 
the '^ Chili" and " Peru," — which were dispatched to commence opera- 
tions towards the close of 1840. These vessels were wooden paddle- 
wheel steamers, sister ships of about seven hundred tons gross regii?ter, 
though with a capacity of not half that tonnage, with engines of about 
one hundred and fifty horse-power, their extreme length being one 

^ A telegram from Sydney states that the belief which was first entertained that 
the foundering of the Orient steamer "Austral," November, 1882, entailed no loss 
of life proves to have been mistaken. The purser and four of the crew were 
drowned. Further telegrams received at Lloyd's state that the "Austral," while 
coaling, keeled over and sank at her moorings. She had 1500 tons of coal on board 
and a cargo of only 200 tons of iron. — The Penny Illustraied Paper ^ November 18, 
1882. 



328 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

huDdred and ninety-eight feet and extreme breadth fifty feet.^ They 
were at that time considered fine vessels, and on their arrival at 
Valparaiso they were received with great rejoicings and with salvos 
of artillery, everybody wishing to visit them, " the President of the 
Republic, accompanied by his ministers, being among the first to 
welcome the steamships to the shores of the Pacific." 

The company in its early days had many difficulties to overcome, the 
scarcity of fuel being one of the greatest, and during the first five years 
sustained a loss of no less than seventy-two thousand pounds upon a 
paid-up capital of ninety-four thousand pounds. In face of this heavy 
loss the share-holders resolved to persevere, and in December, 1847, the 
directors were enabled to give to the share-holders for the first time 
a dividend, though only two and one-half per cent., on their paid-up 
capital. 

In 1850 four new steamers, viz., the "Lima," "Santiago," 
"Quito," and "Bogota," of one thousand tons and two hundred 
horse-power each, in pursuance with a contract with the Admiralty, 
and costing one hundred and forty thousand pounds, were added to the 
line, to be employed in a bimonthly service between Valparaiso and 
Panama. 

From 1860 the trade of the Pacific rapidly developed. Steam 
here, as elsewhere, opened up new and hitherto unthought-of branches 
of commerce, and from that date the progress of the company has been 
of unexampled success. 

In 1865 the chartered powers of the company were extended to 
the establishment of lines " between the west coast of South America 
and the river Plata, including the Falkland Islands and such other 
ports or places in North and South America and other foreign ports as 
the said company shall deem expedient." 

The directors by degrees applied the compound engine after 1856 
to all their steamships, and it is worthy of record that they were not 
only among the first, if not the first, to adopt the compound engine for 
ocean-going steamers, but were almost singular in this respect for up- 
ward of fourteen years. 

During these years the profits of the undertaking had been steadily 
increasing, and at a special meeting of the share-holders, held Decem- 
ber, 1867, it was determined to add to the operations of the company 
a monthly line from Liverpool to the west coast of South America via 
the Straits of Magellan. 

This entirely new and important though hazardous branch of the 
service necessitated an increase of the capital of the company to two 
million pounds. In furtherance of their views the "Pacific," of two 
thousand tons register and four hundred and fifty horse-power, was 

1 Lindsay's " Merchant Shipping," vol. iv., has an illustration of the pioneer 
steamer " Peru." 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 329 

sent from Valparaiso in May, 1868, as the pioneer of the new mail 
line. 

The project was successful, and in 1869 the profits of the four new 
steamers, which had made nine voyages from Liverpool to Valparaiso, 
were so satisfactory that in 1870 it was determined to extend the voy- 
age from Valparaiso to Callao. Seventeen voyages made in the course 
of that year with still greater success induced the directors "to recom- 
mend that the departures thenceforward should be three a month ; and 
in December, 1871, the capital was authorized to be increased to three 
million pounds, so that the company might be enabled to dispatch 
every week one of their steamers on this distant voyage. 

In July, 1872, the capital was increased to four million pounds. 

In 1877, when in command of the United States squadron in the 
South Pacific, I wrote a letter to the Navy Department, in which I 
gave the following information in regard to the then condition of this 
line: 

" I forward herewith an advertisement exhibiting the names and 
tonnage of the forty-eight vessels ^ which now compose the steanii fleet 
of the English ' Pacific Steam Navigation Company' on this coast. A 
few of these vessels have paddle-wheels, but nearly all are iron screw- 
steamers of power, speed, and good model. Relieved of their light 
passenger decks and armed, they would in the event of war prove an 
efficient and formidable auxiliary to the British naval force in these 
seas as cruisers and ^ commerce destroyers.' The schedule and average 
speed of the coasting steamers of this company, ten knots, is considered 
their economical rate of steaming. 

^' The eighteen steamers of the ^ Straits' Line are barque-rigged, have 
an average tonnage greater than the five 'first-rates' of our navy, are 
superior to them in speed, are capable of being as heavily armed. In 
addition to a profitable freight, they carry coal for forty days, steaming 
at the rate of eleven knots per hour under all conditions of wind and 
weather, the latter a good desideratum for a country like the United 
States, having no colonies, and its ships dependent upon home ports 
for a supply of coal, which are now classed as ^contraband of war.' 

'^ The following memorandum of the performance of the ^Acon- 
cagua,' one of the steamships of the Straits Line, I took from her ab- 
stract log by permission of her commander: 

" ' The Pacific Steam Navigation Company's steamship ^' Aconcagua," 
4106 tons, left Liverpool June 13, 1877, at 8 p.m., and arrived at 
Callao, Peru, August 9, 1877, at 7 a.m., stopping in the voyage at 
Pauillac, Lisbon, St. Vincent, Pio Janeiro, Montevideo, Sandy Point, 
Valparaiso, Arica, and Mollendo, the time occupied on the voyage 
being 56 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes; the actual steaming time, 40 days, 

^Mr. Lindsay, in his " Merchant Shipping," says the company owned in 1876 
four steamships, aggregating 119,870 tons and 20,395 horse-power. 



330 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

11 hours, 35 minutes. The distance run was 11,033 nautical miles. 
Coal consumed, 1900 tons. She also expended 656 gallons of oil, 132 
pounds of tallow, and 74 pounds of waste. She received on board at 
Liverpool 1746 tons of coal, and at St. Vincent, 760 tons.' 

^^The following was her expenditure of coal between the several 
ports stopped at : 



Tons. 

Liverpool to Pauillac 139 

Pauillac to Lisbon 148 

Lisbon to St. Vincent 256 

St. Vincent to Kio Janeiro . . . 461 

Rio Janeiro to Montevideo . . . 155 

Montevideo to Sandy Point . . . 211 



Tons. 
Sandy Point to Valparaiso . . . 295 

Valparaiso to Arica 147 

Arica to Mollendo 22 

Mollendo to Callao 66 

Total . 1900 



"The average of her voyage, — speed, 11.36 knots; revolutions, 
50.75 per minute ; pressure, 63 ; coal, 46.91 tons per day. The least 
average speed made in any twenty -four hours during the voyage was 
9.6 knots. 

" On her previous voyage the ^ Aconcagua' touched at one less port, 
ran 11,003 nautical miles, and consumed 1776 tons of coal. The 
'Aconcagua' has but one smoke-stack, others of the line have two. 
The Straits steamers have steam-cutters, and all the ships of the com- 
pany are furnished with steam-capstans." 

Two of the ships of this company, viz., the "Iberia" and "Liguria," 
built in 1873, are each 4671 tons gross register, with a capacity of 4000 
tons of cargo, space for 916 tons of coal additional, and accommodation 
for 800 third-class passengers. On their trial trips these steamers 
attained a speed of 15 knots per hour. Their length is 425 feet be- 
tween perpendiculars, and 449 feet over all. Their breadth is 44J 
feet; depth of hold, 35f feet. The engines, which are compound, 
have each three cylinders, one of 4 feet 8 inches diameter, and two of 
6 feet 6 inches diameter, with 5 feet length of stroke. 

When we consider that the tonnage of the navy of the United States 
in 1881, distributed in 22 sailing-vessels, 83 screw-steamers, 26 iron- 
clads, and 7 side-wheel steamers, in all 138 vessels of every class and 
type, amounts to only 143,338, tons, it may be profitable to compare it 
with the 120,000 tons of this private company, invested in steam-ves- 
sels combining the latest improvements in machinery for economy and 
speed. 

The services of the steamers of this company on the west coast of 
South America have of late been subjected to the depressing influences 
of the war between Chili and Peru, but the steam trade of the Pacific 
has steadily and marvelously increased since first opened out by the 
energy of our countryman, Wheelwright. The people of Chili, sen- 
sible of their indebtedness, have erected a bronze statue to his honor in 
one of the principal plazas of Valparaiso. 

The commanders, officers, and engineers of this company are all 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 331 

Britons. The company owns an island in the Bay of Panama, where 
they have a gridiron for hauling up their vessels for cleaning or repair. 
They have also erected shops at Callao, Peru, fitted with the requisite 
apparatus, implements, and tools, and maintain there a staff of well- 
trained workmen. Connected with the establishments at Callao, Pan- 
ama, and Valparaiso, the company contributes liberally to the support 
of schools, and for the maintenance of clergymen of the Established 
Church ; and it is also interested in the iron floating-docks at Valpa- 
raiso and Callao. 

The splendid, we may say, stupendous results of this company are 
the outgrowth of the project of William Wheelwright, a native of 
Newburyport, Mass., who, after presenting his plans to the capitalists 
of iS'ew York, and their being rejected by them, presented them in 
Liverpool, where they met with better success. Thus through the far- 
seeing of our English brethren the sceptre of the commerce of the 
Pacific has passed into their hands, and it will require on our part, not- 
withstanding the predilection our South American cousins have for us, 
a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together before we can regain 
it or any portion of it. 

The "Austral,'' built on the Clyde by Elder & Co., is 474 feet 
long over all, has a breadth of beam of 48 feet 3 inches, and her 
molded depth is 37 feet. Her displacement on the load-line is about 
9500 tons. She is ten feet longer, two feet broader, and two inches 
deeper than the " Orient," but as her lines are finer, her tonnage will 
not much exceed that of the "Orient." She is built throughout of 
mild steel, and has 3 steel decks. Between the inner skin and the 
double bottom she is divided into 19 water-tight compartments. The 
hull proper is divided by 13 water-tight bulkheads, 10 of which are 
carried up to the main deck. Above the main deck the ship is divided 
into 7 fire-proof compartments, and there are ample arrangements for 
flooding any of the compartments or for extracting water from them, 
the pumps having a capacity for throwing 2928 tons of water per hour. 
She has four masts, two of which are square rigged. The cabins are 
all placed within the area of the ship, with a gangway four feet wide, 
running along the vessel outside the state-rooms and at frequent inter- 
vals across the ship. This permits each state-room to have windows 
instead of air-ports, and the air-port in the side of the ship may be 
kept open even in rough weather without any fear of the water enter- 
ing the cabin. This arrangement of the cabins and state-rooms coin- 
cides exactly with one proposed by R. B. Forbes, Esq., of Boston, in a 
pamphlet published by him in 1866. It seems an arrangement that 
must be universally adopted, as it not only allows the passenger to ob- 
tain an abundant supply of fresh air,- but prevents his inhaling the foul 
air which comes up from the hold through the skin of the ship into his 
state-room when the state-room is built against the sides. 



332 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

The "Austral" belongs to what is known as the Orient Line of 
this company, and, as well as the " Orient,'^ is specially designed for 
the importation of frozen meats from Australia. She is fitted with 
refrigerating machinery of the capacity of about seven hundred tons, 
the largest refrigerator room fitted on any ship. At the trials at sea of 
the machinery it produced a continuous stream of cold, dry air for the 
meat-chamber, the temperature of the air flowing from the machine 
being 85° Fahrenheit below zero, and the large chamber kept steadily 
at zero, or 32° below the freezing point. As the weight of an Austra- 
lian sheep is about eighty pounds, this enormous freezing machine will 
keep twenty thousand sheep frozen in a perfectly fresh state for any 
length of time necessary before shipment. The public rooms, engine- 
room, pantries, and passageways are lighted by the electric light fitted 
up by Messrs. Siemens with nine arc lamps and one hundred and sev- 
enty Swan lamps. 

18^1. — The Eoyal West India Mail Steam- Packet Com- 
pany. — Soon after the Atlantic Ocean began to be regularly navigated 
by steam-vessels, the importance of a rapid and more frequent means 
of intercommunication with the West Indies led to the formation of 
tliis company, which contracted with the Board of Admiralty in 
March, 1841, for the conveyance of the mails between England, the 
West Indies, and the Gulf of Mexico. It commenced operations on 
a much more comprehensive and grander scale than either the Cunard 
Company or Peninsular and Oriental. Fourteen large steamships were 
at once ordered to be built for the service; they were to be of such 
strength as would enable them to carry guns of the largest calibre then 
in use on board Her Majesty^s war-steamers, with engines of not less 
than four hundred cohesive horse-power. The contract required one 
of these vessels to be ready to take the mails on board twice in each 
calendar month, and to proceed via Corunna and Madeira to the island 
of Barbadoes, and after staying not more than six hours, thence via St. 
Vincent to the island of Grenada, where the stoppage was limited to 
twelve hours ; thence in succession to Santa Cruz and St. Thomas, Tri- 
cola Mole, in Hayti, Santiago de Cuba, and Port Royal, in Jamaica. 
After a stay of not exceeding twenty-four hours at Port Royal, the 
steamer was to proceed to Savana la Mar, and thence to Havana ; re- 
turning, she was to call at Savana la Mar, Port Royal, Santiago de 
Cuba, Tricola Mole, and Samana, in Hayti, delivering mails at each 
place, " care being taken that the said steam-vessel shall always arrive 
at Samana aforesaid (after performing the said voyage from Barbadoes 
under ordinary circumstances of wind and weather) on the twenty- 
second day after the arrival from England of the mails at Barbadoes ;" 
and after delivering and receiving the mails at Samana, " the steam- 
vessel shall make the best of her way back from Samana to such port 
in the British Channel as the said Commissioners of the Admiralty 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 333 

shall from time to time direct/' In consideration of this service the 
company was to receive at the rate of two hundred and forty thousand 
pounds per annum in quarterly payments. Notwithstanding this large 
subsidy, the close of the first year's operations showed a loss of seventy- 
nine thousand seven hundred and ninety pounds, sixteen shillings, 
eight pence to the company. 

By the original arrangements the annual mileage traversed would 
have been six hundred and eighty-four thousand eight hundred and 
sixteen miles. Government, however, in answer to the company's 
appeal, reduced the distance to be performed to three hundred and 
ninety-two thousand nine hundred and seventy-six miles, without re-_ 
ducing the subsidy. Though these liberal concessions had been made, 
they were more than counterbalanced by the loss of two valuable ships 
during the second year. Yet the trade increased so rapidly as to leave 
in 1843 a surplus of receipts over expenditures of ninety-four thousand 
two hundred and ten pounds, and in 1844 of one hundred and forty- 
seven thousand seven hundred and forty-nine pounds. From this time 
the prospects of the company have steadily improved. In 1850 the 
mail contract was renewed for ten years from 1st January, 1852, the 
annual subsidy being increased to two hundred and seventy thousand 
pounds, the company agreeing to a monthly service to Brazil, and an 
increase of the mileage to five hundred and forty-seven thousand two 
hundred and ninety-six miles. The company was also required to 
increase the speed of the West Indian line from eight knots to ten knots 
per hour, and to add to their fleet five new steamers of two thousand 
two hundred and fifty tons and eight hundred horse-power each. In 
1864 a third contract was entered into whereby the annual subsidy was 
reduced to one hundred and seventy-two thousand nine hundred and 
fourteen pounds, and the speed increased to ten and a half knots per 
hour in the West India transatlantic service. In 1866 it was agreed 
each alternate fortnightly packet should proceed from St. Thomas direct 
to Colon (Aspinwall), instead of first touching at Jamaica, thus short- 
ening the route between England and Panama. 

In 1874 the annual subsidy for the conveyance of the West India 
mails was reduced to eighty-four thousand seven hundred and fifty 
pounds, not much more than one-third of what the company originally 
received . 

In 1875 a contract was entered into with Her Majesty's government 
to carry on the Brazilian and River Plata mail service for a payment 
according to the w^eight of letters, etc., conveyed. 

The early ships of this line were the finest class of paddle-wheel 
steamers built of wood then afloat, or that had been sent to sea either 
for naval or mercantile purposes. Thus, the '^ Forth," one of the origi- 
nal fleet, was somewhere about nineteen hundred tons gross or builder's 
measurement, eleven hundred and forty-seven tons register, and four 



334 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

hundred and fifty nominal horse-power. She was built at Leith in 
1841. As government reserved the right of purchasing any of these 
ships at valuation, she was, like the others, constructed in accordance 
with a specification from the Admiralty, under the survey and imme- 
diate control of officers appointed for the purpose. Ill luck, however, 
attended the early days of the company, for though the course of the 
vessels was a comparatively safe one, they lost six of their ships in the 
first eight years. The " Isis" sunk ofip Bermuda, October 8, 1842, 
having previously struck on a reef. The " Galway'^ w^as lost April 15, 
1843, twenty miles west of Corunna, when her captain, surgeon, vari- 
ous passengers, and a portion of her crew, consisting in all of sixty 
persons, perished. The " Medina" was wrecked on a coral reef near 
Turk's Island, May 12, 1844. The '^ Tweed," of 1800 tons and 450 
horse-power, was lost February 12, 1847, on the Alicranes, a reef off 
the coast of Yucatan, by which accident seventy-two of the one hun- 
dred and fifty-one persons which composed her crew and passengers 
were drowned. February 1, 1849, the '^ Forth" was lost on the same 
rocks which had caused the destruction of the ^' Tweed," while the 
following year the " Actseon" was wrecked while rounding the point 
near Carthagena. Some of these disasters no doubt arose from the 
intricate character of the navigation among the West India Islands, 
and others, as it was alleged, " by those sudden changes of weather — 
hurricanes, squalls, ^ northers,' etc. — with which the West India Islands, 
Spanish Main, and Gulf of Mexico are so frequently visited." But as 
the company has met with much fewer disasters of late years, incom- 
petency probably had something to do with these almost periodical 
losses. In November, 1852, the " Demerara," which had been launched 
the preceding September from the banks of the Severn, was stranded 
across the river, and so injured that she had to be broken up, and her 
engines utilized on the " Atrato," an iron paddle-wheel steamer. The 
" Demerara" was, at the time of her launch,^ the largest steamship save 

1 The launch of the " Demerara" took place at Bristol. The morning being a fine 
one, large numbers of persons assembled to witness the floating out ; and the vessels 
in the floating harbor were dressed gayly. Owing, however, to delays, and the 
water having fallen some eighteen inches or two feet, the spectators were doomed to 
disappointment, as she could not be got out until the evening's tide, when she 
floated gracefully upon the water, having been christened by the wife of Lieutenant 
Hast, R.N., Commodore of the West India Squadron, and future commander of 
the "Demerara." With the exception of the "Great Britain," the "Demerara" 
was the larg< st steamship afloat. Her length of keel v/as 276 feet; length between 
the perpendiculars, 282 feet; length over all, 316 feet; or 6 feet shorter than the 
" Great Britain." Her breadth of beam was 41 feet, and the extreme width, from 
the outside of the paddle-boxes, 75J feet ; depth to the main-deck, 26 feet 8 inches ; 
depth of spar-deck, 7 feet. Tonnage — by old measurement, 2318 tons; by new 
measurement, upward of 3000 tons. She was built of sound British oak, teak, and 
pine, was diagonally trussed with iron, had copper fastenings throughout to the 21 
feet mark, and iron fastenings above that. She was propelled by two engines made 
by Messrs. Caird & Co., of Greenock, which were constructed on the side-lever prin- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 335 

the "Great Britain" afloat. She was 316 feet long over all, 282 feet 
between the perpendiculars, and 276 feet keel, and was 2318 tons by 
the old, and upward of 3000 tons by the new, measurement. 

The " Atrato'^ was launched by Messrs Caird & Co., from their 
yard at Cartsdyke, in May, 1853. Early in 1852 the " Demerara,'' 
built on the Severn, was stranded across the river soon after her 
launch, as stated above, and so much injured that she had to be broken 
up. For this ship Messrs. Caird & Co. had the engines ready, and 
the directors immediately gave orders to construct an iron vessel to be 
fitted with them. That ship was the "Atrato." To suit the ma- 
chinery it was requisite to maintain the same width as the " Demerara" 
had been, but the length was considerably increased. The " Great 
Britain'^ was of about thirty tons greater capacity, but the " Atrato'^ 
was longer by forty feet. Her dimensions were : 

Feet. 

Length over all 350 

Length of keel and forerake 315 

Extreme breadth, including wings 72 

Breadth of beam 42 

Depth of hold 34 

The dimensions of the great war-steamer " Duke of Wellington,'^ 
three-decker, the largest ship then belonging to the Royal Navy, may 
be stated by way of comparison : 

Feet. 

Extreme length 178 

Length of keel and forerake 240 

Breadth 59 

Depth 24| 

The '^Duke'^ was thus less than the "Atrato'^ by about seventy 
feet in length and ten feet in depth ; the width of the latter being, 
from the cause we have mentioned, le?s by seventeen feet. The height 
of the '^ Atrato'^ from the keel to top of bulwark-rail was forty-three 
feet. Her bow was surmounted by a spirited representation of an 
Indian deity, the work of Mr. Peter Christie, of Greenock. 

The " Atrato" had four decks, seven and eight feet respectively in 
height. The spar-deck was flush from stem to stern, affording a 
promenade the length and breadth of a good street, — three hundred 
and thirty feet by thirty-eight. She had two funnels and three masts. 
The standing rigging was light and graceful, being formed of galva- 
nized iron. The masts were fitted with Sir Snow Harris's lightning 
conductors. The main- and foremasts were '^ great sticks" of Quebec 
pine, the former measuring ninety feet long by seven in circumference. 

ciple, of the combined power of 750 horses, or 24,500,000 pounds, 96-inch cylinders, 
and 9 feet stroke, and they were attached to a pair of Morgan's patent feathering 
float-paddles. 

An elegant dejeuner was afterwards given at the White Lion Hotel, at which 
between forty and fifty gentlemen sat down. 



336 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATIOK 

The keel of the ship was formed of nine enormous pieces of iron, 
and the stem- and stern-posts were each one piece, and both carried 
besides some distance along horizontally. In the framing and fitting 
of the paddle-boxes, the beams and stringers, all of patent iron, pre- 
sented an extraordinary contrast to the great logs used for the purpose 
in the other ships. The paddle-spaces were forty feet by twelve and a 
half wide, the wheels of thirty-seven feet diameter, patent feathering 
principle. The ship was divided into seven water-tight compartments 
by iron bulkeads. Thirteen hundred tons of iron were used in the 
construction of the hull. She was propelled by two beam-engines of 
the collective power of eight hundred horses, and she had accommoda- 
tions for two hundred and twenty-four first-class passengers. 

But by far the greatest disaster which befell any of this company's 
ships was the destruction of the " Amazon" by fire ; nothing could be 
more terrible than the loss of this ship and the sufferings of those who 
perished with her. The " Amazon" was launched at Blackwell on the 
28th of June, 1851. She was the largest wooden merchant steamship 
which up to that time had been constructed. She was 310 feet in 
length, 42 feet in width, 72 feet over the paddle-boxes, and 32 feet in 
depth ; she was about 3000 tons burden, or 2256 tons register, and 
was fitted with engines of 800 horse-power, the diameter of the cylin- 
ders being 96 inches each, and the stroke 9 feet. The engines made 
14 revolutions of her wheels, which were 41 feet in diameter, per 
minute, giving her a speed by log of 11 knots. Her cost was up- 
ward of £80,000, and when ready for sea somewhat over £100,000. 
When surveyed by the Admiralty before her departure from Southamp- 
ton she was reported capable of carrying fourteen 32-pounders and two 
10-inch pivot guns of eighty-five hundred-weight each, and her coal- 
bunkers were constructed to carry 1000 tons of coal, sufficient for six- 
teen and one-half days' full steaming. On the 2d of January, 1852, 
the " Amazon" sailed from Southampton on her first outward voyage. 
On the 4th of January, when about 110 miles W.S.W. of the Seilly 
Islands, the watch on deck discovered that a fire had broken out sud- 
denly on the starboard side forward, between the steam-chest and the 
galley, the flames at once rushing up the gangway in front of the fore- 
most funnel. All efforts to check the progress of the fire proved 
futile, and the most terrible consternation and confusion prevailed, the 
gale which howled overhead and around them increasing the terror of 
the awful calamity. The boats were burnt where stowed or swamped 
when lowered, save two of the life-boats and a small dingy, in which 
sixty-five of the one hundred and sixty-one souls on board managed 
to escape from the burning wreck ; ninety-six, including the captain, 
perished in the ship. 

These losses left the company only the " Orinoco," " Magdalene," 
and " Parana" for the direct service between Southampton and Colon ; 



HISTORY OF SIEAM NAVIGATION. 337 

but, stimulated rather than depressed by misfortune, they chartered 
other vessels, and entered into the construction of steamers of a still 
finer description. When the government relieved them from the con- 
dition of building wooden vessels adapted for purposes of war, and the 
directors discovered that iron was preferable to wood, and the screw 
a better mode of propulsion than the paddle, they produced vessels 
equal to most of those engaged in transatlantic navigation. 

There are not now many finer vessels afloat than the " Tagus'' and 
"Moselle,^' launched in 1871, and the later ships of this line. The 
"Moselle," of about 3200 tons gross register, and engines of 600 
horse-power, made 14.929 knots per hour as the average per four runs 
over the measured mile; and the " Tasmanian," an iron screw-vessel, 
also fitted in 1871 with compound engines, accomplished her first voy- 
age to St. Thomas in fourteen days and two hours, on a consumption 
of only 466 tons of coal, though before the alteration in her engines 
she had consumed 1088 tons in making the same voyage. 

The fleet is now a fine one, consisting of twenty-four steamships of 
from 3472 tons registered tonnage down to 1000, and nearly all iron 
screw-vessels. 

1847.— T^^ Collins Line.— In 1847 Mr. Edward K. Collins, 
with others, emulous of the success which had attended the Cunard 
Line, contracted with the government of the United States to convey 
the United States mails between New York and Liverpool, agreeing to 
make twenty voyages in each year, and to employ five first-class ves- 
sels in doing so. For the fulfillment of this agreement the Collins 
Company was to receive |1 9,250 per voyage. The company was 
unable to get the vessels ready within the stipulated time, and the time 
for their completion was extended. It was also favored with an ad- 
vance of $25,000 a month on each vessel from the date of its launch 

1 Edward K. Collins, founder of the first American line of steamships between 
New Yorlv and Liverpool, was buried June 26, 1878, from his former residence, at 
Madison Avenue. The remains were taken to Woodlawn Cemetery. Eepresenta- 
tives from all the large steamship lines in the vicinity attended. He was born at 
Truro, Massachusetts, in 1802. He entered upon mercantile pursuits in early life, 
and on settling in New York City soon acquired a reputation for great activity and 
enterprise in commercial affairs. He organized a line of sailing-packets between 
that city and New Orleans, and Yera Cruz, Mexico, which were so successful as to 
induce him to turn his attention to the passenger traffic between New York and 
Liverpool. He accordingly established the Dramatic Line of sailing-packets, com- 
prising the fine ships " Shakespeare," " Garrick," " Siddons," and " Eoscius." He 
had them constructed with full poops, with a view of affording increased accommo- 
dations for cabin passengers, which was considered quite an improvement over the 
" old liners" then in use, and as a consequence he soon distanced his competitors in 
gaining the patronage and favor of the public. The Dramatic Line became famous 
and was a successful pecuniary enterprise. The great success attending his efforts 
in this direction finally led him to entertain the idea of establishing a steam line of 
packets. In nautical circles the project at once excited considerable interest, and 
also secured the sympathies of the people. A subsidy from Congress was granted 
for carrying the mails. 

24 



338 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

until the sum should amount to $385,000. It was also agreed on the 
part of the government that the company should not be compelled to 
complete its fifth vessel. Then, in consideration of the company's 
making twenty-six instead of twenty annual voyages, the subsidy was 
increased from $19,250 to $33,000 per voyage, or to $878,000 yearly. 
For these pecuniary considerations the company was urged by the 
United States government, and endeavored, as well as agreed, to make 
the fastest passages between England and America. This endeavor 
was made with great spirit, and statements submitted to Congress show 
that it cost nearly half a million of dollars annually to effect the 
saving of a single day or a day and a half on the passage to Liver- 
pool. Notwithstanding its large subsidy, the Collins enterprise, after 
sustaining the loss of two out of four of the company's ships, com- 
pletely failed. 

The history of the Collins fleet, the' ships of which were in their 
day the finest afloat, both as to accommodations and speed, is soon told. 
The "Arctic" was run into by the French steamship " Vesta'' in mid- 
ocean, September 27, 1854, and sunk; the "Pacific," with 240 souls 
on board, including the wife of Mr. Collins, was never heard from 
after sailing from Liverpool. The " Atlantic" was the pioneer steam- 
ship of the line. She sailed from New York April 27, 1849, and 
arrived in the Mersey May 10, thus making the passage in about 
thirteen days, two of which were lost in repairing the machinery ; the 
speed was reduced in order to prevent the floats from being torn from 
the paddle-wheels. The average time of the forty-two westward trips 
in the early days of the line was 11 days, 10 hours, and 26 minutes, 
against the average of the then so-called fastest line of steamers, 12 
days, 19 hours, and 26 minutes. The "Atlantic" was broken up in 
New York in 1879. On her arrival at Liverpool, in 1850, she was 
found to be too large for any of the docks, so of necessity lay out in 
the river. 

The " Adriatic," the queen of the fleet, the only screw-ship of the 
line, was purchased by an English company, and is now used as a coal- 
hulk. To such base uses do we come at last. 

This leaves only the "Baltic," a vessel which cost $700,000, to be 
accounted for. It is claimed that she made the quickest trip under 
steam alone that had ever been made in crossing the Atlantic. The 
White Star steamships, which later have made such rapid passages, 
spread nearly an acre of canvas, w^hile the " Baltic" had comparatively 
no canvas. 

After the failure of the Collins Line, the " Baltic" was in gov- 
ernment service during the Civil War, and afterwards, altered into a 
sailing-ship, made several trips from San Francisco to Europe with 
wheat, her freight sometimes amounting to more than $70,000. She 
was sold to a German company, who hoped to sell her to Russia during 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 339 

the Turkish war, but the war ceasing, she was sold to private owners, 
and on her passage from Bremen to Boston met with a terrific gale, 
which strained her so badly that it was determined to break her up for 
the material in her. Soon, said a Boston paper of October, 1880, all 
that will be left of the '' Baltic'^ will be a collection of old junk and a 
smoking hulk at Apple Island, the graveyard of many a fine vessel. 
So ended the last of the Collins Line, all of which were paddle-wheel 
steamships, excepting the "Adriatic," which never made a trip on the 
line. 

The "Adriatic" was launched April 8, 1856. Her length was 345 
feet; beam, 50 feet; depth of hold, 33J feet; registered tonnage, 
4144.75. The " Adriatic" was purchased by the Gal way Company in 
1861. The transfer of this ship to the English flag does not seem to 
have reduced her speed or detracted from her sea-going qualities, for 
she made the run from Galway to St. Johns in six days, the specified 
time, and having completed this passage to New York in one day 
fifteen hours, and three-quarters less than the contract time, returned 
from St. Johns to Galway in jive days, nineteen hours and three- 
quarters, perhaps the quickest passage on record from port to port 
across the Atlantic.*^ 

The principal dimensions of the " Atlantic" and of the " Pacific," 
a sister vessel, were : Length between the perpendiculars, 276 feet ; 
beam, 45 feet; across the paddles, 75 feet; depth of hold, 31 feet 7 
inches ; diameter of wheel, 36 feet ; tons burden, 2860, and she was 
said to be the largest steamship that had been built. 

The "Arctic," the fastest steamer of the line, was modeled by 
George Steers, who designed the yacht "America;" her tonnage was 
2856 tons; length of deck, 282 feet; breadth, 45 feet; and depth 
below main deck, 24 feet. Her cylinders were 95 inches diameter, 
stroke 10 feet. On her eighth passage from New York to Liverpool 
she made the then extraordinary time of 9 days, 17 hours, and 12 
minutes. Her paddle-wheels were 35 feet 6 inches diameter, and con- 
tained each thirty -six floats. She burned about 87 tons of coal a day.^ 

^ Appendix No. 6 to the Keport of the Committee of the House of Commons, 
For a history of the Galway Line, which was unsuccessful, see Lindsay's " Merchant 
Shipping," vol. iii. 

2 Sir Edmund Cunard testified, in 1860, that the Collins Line got at first for 
twenty -four voyages ^401,040 from the United States government, and that after- 
wards it received |893,750 for twenty-six voyages, or double his own subsidy, con- 
sidering that he made two voyages to one. The capital of the Collins Line, $3,500,- 
000, he said, would have been entirely sunk but for the loss of two ships, by which 
they got $1,250,000 from the English underwriters. 

He said if his contract was withdrawn he had better sink his ships than try to 
keep them, for they were not adapted for mercantile uses. The " Scotia" cost him 
1900,000. Cunard's original subsidy, for twenty-four voyages a year, was $300,000 
per annum for seven years. In 1852 he agreed to make a weekly service for §865,- 
000 a year, to last ten years ; five years afterwards he demanded a larger extension 



340 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

From the start the Collins Company suffered from want of capitaL 
Although the four vessels of this company cost |2,944,142 its paid-in 
capital only amounted to $1,200,000. It began, therefore, with a debt 
of 11,744,122, which was a continual drain for interest and commis- 
sions. With careful management this difficulty might have been over- 
come, for its receipts from the government for the transportation of 
mails during the first five years amounted to more than the cost of the 
vessels. Its receipts from other sources were large, and when the 
" Arctic" and " Pacific'^ were lost they were insured for their value at 
the time. Mr. Collins submitted to Congress the following statement^ 
dated February 17, 1855 : 

Total receipts for passengers and freight |4,460,867 

" " mail service 3,413,966 

17,874,833 
Total disbursement 7,207,291 

Leaving a nominal surplus of $667,542 

which was more than disposed of, as follows : 

Loss of the Arctic |255,000 

Depreciation of investment 258,000 

7 per cent, interest on capital 408,000 

1921,000 

The all-controlling desire which seemed to outweigh every consid- 
eration of prudence was principally in relation to speed. Mr. Olds, 
of Ohio, in the United States House of Represenatives, expressed the 
feeling of multitudes in the country when he said, " We have the 
fastest horses, the prettiest women, and the best shooting-guns in the 
world, and we must also have the fastest steamers. The Collins Line 
must beat the British steamers. Our people expected this of Mr. Col- 
lins, and he has not disappointed them.'^ 

The Collins Line were as substantially and economically built ves- 
sels as any of their time. After running six years their cost for repairs 
was more than the previous cost of the ships, or eighteen per cent, per 
annum/ 

of the contract, so he could borrow money to build faster steamers than Collins. 
Collins's original four steamers cost |2, 994, 000, and his last experiment, the " Adri- 
atic," ruined him. The average cost of each of his early voyages was |65,215, and 
the corresponding receipts $48,287, yet he carried more passengers from the begin- 
ning to the end than the Cunarders. 

Mr. Collins's first proposition to the government of the United States was in 
1845, but no contract was concluded with him until 1847. The " Adriatic" was 
the first to take her departure for Europe, in April, 1850, the " Pacific" followed in 
a few weeks, then the " Adriatic," and the " Baltic" soon after. These vessels were 
alike in model and in dimensions. 

^ Eaney's Ocean Post. 



I 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 341 

1848. — Pacific Mail Steamship Company. — This company 
-was compelled at the outset to form an establishment of the most effec- 
tive character four or five thousand miles away from home, and it was 
at that time thirteen thousand miles distant. The country was wholly 
new, so much so that it was, in most parts of the field which it had to 
occupy, extremely difficult to procure ordinary food for their operations. 
Their ships had to make a voyage more than half of that around the 
■world before they arrived at their points of service, and they found 
themselves without a home when there. The steamer '^ California," 
1086 tons, which left New York on the 6th of October, 1848, was the 
:first of the line to bear the American flag to the Pacific Ocean, and the 
first to salute with a new life the solitudes of that rich and untrodden 
territory. She was soon followed by the " Panama," 1088 tons, and 
the '^ Oregon," 1099 tons, and in due course by the " Tennessee," the 
^^ Golden Gate," 2068 tons, the "Columbia," 778 tons, the "John L. 
Stephens," 2189 tons, the " Sonora," 1614 tons, the "Eepublic," 850 
tons, the '' Northerner," 1010 tons, the " Fremont," 576 tons, the '' To- 
bago," 189 tons, the "St. Louis," 1621 tons, and the "Golden Age," 
2280 tons. 

These steamers found nothing ready to receive them in the Pacific. 
The company was compelled to construct large workshops and foun- 
dries for their repair, and now have at Benicia a large and excellent 
establishment, where they can easily construct a marine engine. They 
had also to build their own dry-dock. They had also to make shore 
establishments at Panama, San Francisco, and Astoria, which, with 
coal depots, etc., were extremely costly, owing to materials having to 
be transported so far and labor at the time being so high owing to 
the rush to the gold-diggings. For a portion of the time the com- 
pany had to pay thirty dollars a ton for coal, and in one instance 
iifty dollars. The success of building up this large establishment 
in the Pacific was simply an accident, and that accident the discovery 
of gold. 

It is impossible in these notes to give even a brief sketch of all the 
fortunes and misfortunes of this great steamship company, but it is 
sufficient to say it still lives. All the early steamers were wooden 
paddle-wheelers, but, as in the case of all the ocean steamship com- 
panies, the fleet is now composed of iron screw ships. In 1876 it had 
a fleet of thirty-three steamers of an aggregate capacity of 74,000 tons of 
cargo, exclusive of the large space assigned to passengers ; but that fleet 
has since been very much reduced. It had then thirty-five chief agen- 
cies, and its steamers called at forty-seven ports in the Pacific and those 
in the Atlantic. 

The China and Japan Line was not started until the 1st of January, 
1867, when the first of its fleet passed out of the Golden Gate of Cali- 
fornia bound across the Pacific to those ancient nations. The " Great 



342 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Republic," ^^ China/' "Japan/' and "America/' all of them \yooden 
vessels with paddle-wheels and walking-beam engines, soon followed. 
These vessels, of about 4000 tons each, made the voyage from San 
Francisco to Yokohama in twenty-two days, thence to Hong-Kong in 
seven days, the whole distance, including the stoppage at Yokohama, 
occupying thirty days. 

In 1874 the company added to the line the "City of Tokio" and 
the " City of Peking," two magnificent iron screw steamships of 5560 
tons burden, 423 feet in length, 48 feet wide, and 38 feet deep, being 
the largest steamships that had ever carried the American flag. They 
have since started a line of steamers to Australia and the Hawaiian 
Islands. 

The voyage of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's steamer 
" City of New York," from New York to San Francisco in 1876, was 
remarkable. The total distance, 13,552 miles, was performed in 5d 
days, the actual steaming time being 54 days, 14 hours. The entire 
passage was made on the coal shipped at New York, none having been 
taken on board en route. The runs were as follows : 

New York to Cape Virgin, west entrance of the Strait of Magellan 7074 miles. 

Through the strait 340 " 

Cape Pillar, east entrance of Strait of Magellan, to San Francisco 6138 " 

Total revolutions of the engines during the voyage 3,338,105 

" distance, by observation run 13,552 miles. 

" " by screw • 14,235 " 

" amount of coal consumed (dock to dock) 1485 tons. 

'< " " " at anchor (port consumption) . . 45 " 

" " " " for steaming 1440 " 

Average consumption of coal per day 26.4 " 

'' <' " mile 239 lbs. 

" revolutions per day, running time 61,250 

«' " minute 42.53 

" speed per day, running time 248J miles. 

The following are the dimensions of the " City of New York" : 
Length, 353 feet; beam, 40i feet; tonnage, 3019. Engines, 1000 
horse-power. 

The following table gives the name, class, tonnage, and passenger 
capacity of the present fleet of the company, but does not give the for- 
eign connecting lines in the Atlantic and South Pacific. 

These vessels are all iron screw steamships. 

The " City of Para" and the " City of Kio de Janeiro," formerly 
of the Brazilian Line, now belonging to the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company, are sister ships. Each measures 368 feet 6 inches over all ; 
beam, 38 feet 8 inches ; hold, 28 feet 7 inches, with compound engines 
42J and 74J inches in diameter ; stroke, 5 feet. Each ship has six 
boilers, 10 feet 6 inches long and 13 feet in diameter. The register h 
2548 tons ; gross tonnage, 3500. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



343 



FLEET OF THE PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY, OCTOBER, 1882. 



Vessels. 


Ton- 
nage. 


Length. 


Beam. 


Passengers. 


Cabin. 


Steerage. 


Atlantic Line. 
Acapulco 


2572 
3532 
2686 
2075 

2906 
2572 
2081 
2076 

1490 
2017 
1457 
1816 
2099 

5080 
5080 
3548 

3019 
3017 
2737 
2730 


300 
345 
280 
300 

312 
280 
300 
300 

248 

263 

227 

261.4 

257.1 

423 
425 
344 

339 
353 
376.9 
377 


43 

38.6 

40 

36 

40 
40 
36 
36 

36.1 

37 

35 

38.8 

35 

48 
48 
38 

40.2 
40 
37.4 
37.1 


190 
190 

190 
190 

55 

100 

120 

60 

80 

150 
150 

150 
150 


300 


Citv of Para 




Colon ... 


300 


San Bias 




Panatna and San Francisco Through 
Line. 

Colima 


300 


Granada 

San Jose 

San Juan 


300 


Central America and Mexican Line. 
City of Panama ... 


150 


Clyde 


200 


Costa Kica . . 


600 


Honduras 


250 


South. Carolina 


290 


China Line. 
City of Peking 


1500 


Citv of Tokio ... 


1500 


City of Kio de Janeiro 

Australiayi Line. 

City of New York 

Citv of Svdnev 


600 
500 


A\\s,ixQ\m [chartered) 

Calandia [chartered) 





Steamships of the line sail from Xew York on the 10th, 20th, and 
30th of each month, and from San Francisco on the 4th and 19th of 
each month via the Isthmus of Panama. 

The voyage betNveen New York and San Francisco occupies 
twenty-five days : nine days between New York and Aspinwall ; one 
day in crossing the Isthmus, including the transfer by steam-tug to or 
from steamers in the Bay of Panama ; and fifteen days on the Pacific 
Ocean. Steamers call at no California port except San Francisco, and 
at no port between New York and Aspinwall. Connections are made 
at Aspinwall with Royal Mail, West India and Pacific, Transatlan- 
tique, and Hamburg-American steamers for ports on the Atlantic 
coast of Central, South, and North America, and the West India 
Islands. 

At Panama, with Pacific Steam Navigation Company, for all 
Pacific ports of South America and Australia. 



344 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

At Yokohama, with Mitsa-Bishi Mail Line, for Japanese ports and 
Shanghai. 

At Hong-Kong, with Peninsular and Oriental, Messageries Mari- 
times, Jardine, Matheson & Co., and Douglas, Lapraik & Co.'s 
steamship lines for all China, India, and Eastern ports, and via Suez 
Canal for all European ports. Also with steamers for Manilla and 
Batavia. 

At Auckland, with Union Steamship Company, for all New Zealand 
ports. 

At Sydney, with Australian Steam Navigation Company, for Aus- 
tralian ports ; with Union Steamship Company, for all New Zealand 
ports; with Eastern and Australian Steamship Company, for Keppel 
Bay, Bowen, Townsville, Somerset, and via Torres Straits for Batavia, 
Singapore, and Calcutta ; with Peninsular and Oriental steamers, for 
Melbourne, Adelaide, King George's Sound, Ceylon, etc., also with 
steamers for New Caledonia and Hobart Town ; with Tasmanian 
Steam Navigation Company, for Hobart Town and Launceton. 

1850. — The Warren Line of Steamships, Boston and 
Liverpool. — The nucleus of this line was the once celebrated sail- 
ing-packets of Enoch Train & Co., — viz., the " Plymouth Rock," 
" Washington Irving," " Daniel Webster," " Anglo-American," 
^' Anglo-Saxon," etc., ships of from one thousand to fifteen hundred 
tons; supplemented as the requirements of speed were called for by 
the clippers ^' Star of Empire," ^' Chatsworth," ^* Staffordshire," 
" Cathedral," and " Chariot of Fame," of from fifteen hundred to two 
thousand tons. 

This line is a Boston enterprise for carrying freight and passengers 
between Boston and Liverpool. At times each ship has brought from 
four hundred to eight hundred emigrant passengers, and the pressure 
has been so great that other ships have been chartered. 

Between 1850 and 1860 steam worked its way into the Atlantic 
carrying trade, and the Warren Company was among the first to sub- 
stitute steam- for sailing-ships. Its first vessels were the " Propontis," 
"Bosphorus," '^Delaware," " Meletia," "Peruvian," etc., bringing 
large cargoes, and an average of seven hundred emigrant passengers. 
Return cargoes were sought for in other ports. 

In 1872 the trade had increased enough to warrant the placing of 
such large steamships on the line as the " Minnesota," " Victoria," and 
" Palestine," carrying from 2200 to 2800 tons of merchandise. The 
" Iowa" has the capacity of carrying 3300 tons of merchandise, exclu- 
sive of coal, and makes an average passage of ten and one-half days 
between Boston and Liverpool. Other ships of this line are the 
" Canopus," '^ Milanese," " Pharos," '' Glamorgan," and '^ Pembroke," 
to which have been recently added the " Missouri," of 4300 tons, and 
the '^ Kansas," of 4500 tons dead-weight capacity. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 345 

In 1880 this line dispatched from Boston in eighty-four steamers 
20,031 tons of merchandise, 28,176 oxen, 11,323 swine, and 18,053 
sheep. 

The " Missouri,'' Captain A. H. Burwell, arrived at Boston Friday, 
June 10, 1880, having sailed from Liverpool on the 29th of May? 
making her first ocean voyage in about twelve days.^ She was built 
on the Clyde, and is pronounced one of the finest of the Atlantic steamers. 
Her dimensions are : Length, 425 feet ; breadth, 43 feet 6 inches ; depth, 
35 feet 6 inches, and the tonnage under deck 5000. Her engines are 
300 horse-power, constructed on the compound principle, which are 
supplied with steam from four steel boilers at a working pressure of 
eighty pounds to the square inch. The steamer is fitted with four 
decks ; three are iron, throughout the entire length, and sheathed with 
wood planking. She is divided into eight water-tight compartments, 
and has water-ballast capacity to the extent of 700 tons, and her dead- 
weight cargo and coal capacity will be 5000 tons. The steam stearing- 
gear can be worked from aft, or in the pilot-house or on the bridge 
amidships. 

ISSO. — The Inman Line. — The history of the Inman Line owes 
its inception to William Inman (who died in 1881) and his copartners, 
is the history of all the great institutions in England, — a good basis, 
sure foundations, and the gradual growth of a legitimate plan. It was 
the first regular line of steamers across the Atlantic, consisting entirely 
of iron ships, propelled by the screw. December 10, 1850, the "City 
of Glasgow," of 1600 tons and 350 horse-power, the first steamship of 
what was then called the Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia 
Steamship Company, sailed from Liverpool for Philadelphia, having 
previously made several successive and successful voyages to New 
York,^ under other owners. In June, 1851, the " City of Manchester" 
was added to the line. It was not until February, 1875, that the line 
was converted, in honor of its founder, into the " Inman Steamship 
Company," limited. 

New York having just become the port of the Cunard fleet, the 
new line did not wish to enter into direct competition with the older 

1 Captain Burwell died on his passage to Boston in command of one of the 
company's steamers, September, 1882. 

2 The " City of Glasgow" left Liverpool last for Philadelphia, March 1, 1854, 
and is supposed to have foundered at sea, as she was never heard from. The vessel 
and cargo were valued at |850,000. 

Mr. Inman, having watched the performances of the "City of Glasgow" on 
her first trip to America, was convinced of the advantages she possessed over not 
merely sailing-ships, but over paddle-steamers, and therefore recommended her pur- 
chase to his partners. Acting on his advice, they bought and dispatched her with 
four hundred steerage passengers in the winter of 1850 across the Atlantic, and thus 
inaugurated what is now known as the " Inman Line." The "City of Glasgow" 
did her work well, and falsified the prophecies of disaster. The "City of Man- 
chester" left a profit of forty per cent, the first year of her movement. 



346 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

cobipany, but in 1857 the ^'Inraan'^ went also to New York, and 
having decided to name their ships for the leading cities of the world, 
had already added to its line the ^' City of Philadelphia/'^ '^City of 
Baltimore/' ''City of Washington/' and "Kangaroo/' and in 1860 
they added the '' City of New York/' when the company's service be- 
came a weekly one. 

In 1863 the "City of London/' "City of Cork/' "City of Lim- 
erick/' and " City of Dublin" were added to the line, and the number 
of the trips increased to three times a fortnight, and afterwards to 
twice a week. The fleet in 1880 consisted of eleven vessels, varying 
in gross tonnage from 2536 to 5490 tons, and in nominal horse-power 
from 350 to 1000. Five ships have been built within the last seven 
years, four being among the largest and finest merchant steamships 
afloat,— viz., the "City of Chester/' "City of Eichmond/' "City of 
Berlin," and " City of Rome." 

The " City of Berlin" was launched October 27, 1874. She has a 
gross tonnage of 5491, is 4634 tons, builder's measurement, and has 
a net register tonnage of 3139 tons. Her engines are 1000 nominal 
horse-power, but capable of being worked up to five times that amount 
of power. She is 513 feet in length over all, has four decks, and 
a molded width of 45 feet. These dimensions give her accommoda- 
tions for 200 saloon, or first-class, and 1500 intermediate, or steerage, 
passengers, and a crew of 150 men. The contract with her builders 
was that she should indicate 5000 horse-power and steam about 16 
knots. On her trial trip, at the measured mile, her engines indicated 
5200 horse-power. She is propelled by a pair of inverted, direct- 
acting, compound high- and low-pressure engines. The low-pressure 
cylinder of these engines is 120 inches, and the high-pressure cylinder 
72 inches in diameter, with a piston-stroke of 5 feet 6 inches. She 
has 12 boilers, heated by 36 furnaces, and they are so arranged that 
any number of them can be cut oif. Her saloon is amidships, and is 
44 feet in length by 43 in width, longitudinally divided by two rows 
of walnut columns surmounted by gilded Corinthian capitals. It is 
lighted in the day time by an elegant cupola skylight. 

The following description of this vessel by a passenger may well be 
compared with that of the " Thalmaraegus," described by Athenseus, 
and built by Philopater, king of Egypt, which was 420 feet long, 57 
feet broad, and 72 feet high from the keel. The element of steam was 
of course wanting. 

" There is certainly no finer steamer afloat, none more comfortable. 
Seated at dinner in her saloon, lounging in her smoking-room, or chat- 

1 The " City of Philadelphia," on her passage from Liverpool to Philadelphia, 
struck on Cape Race, September 17, 1854, and was lost ; the vessel and cargo being 
valued at |600,000,— passengers and crew saved. In 1870 the "City of Boston" 
sailed for Europe and has never since been heard of. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 347 

ting with the ladies in their divan, you may easily forget you are at sea. 
The ' City of Berlin' has two decks, both of them superior to anything 
I have ever seen. You can have a promenade of nearly five hundred 
feet straight ahead, and the clean sweep of the lower deck from one end 
to the other is something superb. The lower deck looks like a little 
town, and it is a great deal pleasanter than most little towns. There is 
a row of handsome-looking houses, with a street open to the sea on 
either side. These houses, bright and neat, with their descriptions 
engraved on each in English, French, and German, are the officers' 
rooms, ladies' room, smoking-room, etc., all opening upon the deck on 
both sides, so that their ventilation and comfort are perfect. The 
smoking-room has electric bells and other conveniences. The ladies' 
public room is spacious, and filled with sofas and seats, so that the 
occupants can sit and chat with their male friends outside, or draw a 
curtain and shut themselves from all observation, or retire to a private 
room below (which opens upon lavatories and bath-rooms), and is one 
of the snuggest apartments in the ship, furnished in excellent taste, and 
provided with luxuries and comforts undreamed of in private houses. 
In the companion-way hangs a list of the crew, and the boats to which 
they belong. The call is made every day ; each man has his number, 
and in case of danger he knows exactly what to do. . . . The state- 
rooms are lighted from the deck by protected windows. In the best 
rooms, in addition to the usual berths, is a sofa made so that it can be 
converted into a berth large enough for two. The washing conven- 
iences are such that you turn the taps in your state-room to wash with 
more confidence than if you had a London reservoir to draw from, 
there being between three and four miles of lead piping in the ship. 
The bath-tubs are all of white marble. You arrange the business of 
getting a bath with the steward. At the entrance of each bath is a 
slate, on which is inscribed the passenger's name and the time at which 
the bath is devoted to him. Should he fail to appear, the others go on 
in rotation. 

" The saloon is furnished in Spanish mahogany and purple velvet. 
There are four rows of tables, and the menu and wine-card is some- 
thing to be remembered. The captain presides at one, the purser at 
another, the surgeon at a third, and some favored passenger at the fourth. 
The ship comprises within its vast domain a barber-shop, a butcher- 
shop, vegetable-store, kitchen, with lifts and shoots for the convenience 
of cooks and waiters, a bakery, a laundry, a surgery, hospital and 
infirmaries, and ice-houses. Indeed, nothing is wanting : even a light- 
house is provided. The sleeping accommodations are so arranged that 
by writing early, families or parties of eight, sixteen, and twenty-four 
can be berthed in private rooms. '^ 

The " City of Paris" in 1869 conveyed his Eoyal Highness Prince 
Arthur (now Duke of Connaught) to America in six daySj tiuenty- 



348 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

one hours, the quickest passage ever made to any part of the New 
World from Cork. The prince attended divine service at Queens- 
town on Sunday, embarked at 4 p.m. that day, and was landed at 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, at half-past 10 a.m. on the following Sunday 
in time for morning service at that place, which, to his credit, he also 
attended. 

In 1874 the average time made by the fifty-one sailings of the In- 
man steamers between Queenstown and Sandy Hook, New York, 2775 
miles, was 10 days, 22 hours, 1 minute. The same year the " City of 
Chester" and the *' City of Richmond,'' thj newest and swiftest of the line, 
made seven passages each, none of which exceeded 9 days, the longest 
being the " Richmond's," in 8 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes, and the 
shortest the " Chester's," in 8 days, 1 hour, 38 minutes. The passages 
covered the whole of 1874, the vessels being subject to all the phases 
of the variable Atlantic. In December, 1875, the "City of Brussels" 
made the passage from New York to Queenstown in 7 days, 20 hours, 
33 minutes, the " City of Richmond" in 7 days, 18 hours, 50 minutes, 
and in September and October the " City of Berlin" made passages 
both ways in 7 days, 18 hours, 2 minutes, 7 days, 15 hours, 48 minutes, 
and 7 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes. 

The In man was the first line to make special provisions for emi- 
grant passengers, and during the ten years ending in 1863 had carried 
a yearly average of 30,000 passengers, or 300,000. The next ten years 
exhibited even better results, the number of passengers carried exceed- 
ing 787,000, or an annual average of 78,700. 

From 1850 to 1860 no mails were carried, Mr. Inman holding that 
^' ocean postage" was the proper way of paying for mail services rather 
than by monopolies and subsidies. When the Collins Line of Amer- 
ican steamers was withdrawn the Inman came into the gap and carried 
the American mails, receiving for the service eight pence per half-ounce 
for letters, the postage being one shilling per half-ounce. The Inman 
Company has never had a subsidy , and has never been paid but for 
work done. When they came to agreement in 1867 with the Cunard 
Company to run a tri-weekly service to New York, they were paid 
£35,000 per annum for one sailing a week, which was less than one- 
half the remuneration they would have been paid under the ocean 
postage system. Thus the company carried the royal mail from 1868 
until December, 1876, in conjunction with the Cunard. In 1877 the 
British government entered intoarrangements with, the Inman, Cunard, 
and White Star Lines (exclusively) to run the mails tri-weekly — viz., 
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday — to New York. 

On the 30th of December, 1881, the " City of Brussels" took from 
Liverpool to New York seven hundred and sixty sacks of mail matter, 
the largett shipment of that kind ever sent to New York. 

The ''City of Rome," launched on the 14th of June, 1881, at Bar- 



HI8T0RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 349 

row-in-Furness, by the Barrow Ship-Building CompaDy, was regarded 
as the most appropriate name which could be given to the latest addi- 
tion to the In man fleet. Not many years ago Barrow was a handful of 
houses ; it -is now a town with thousands of inhabitants, whose pros- 
perity depends upon the enterprise and ability which have led to the 
construction of the " City of Rome." The builders and owners of the 
vessel united to make the occasion memorable. A conspicuous proof 
of the friendly rivalry between the transatlantic companies was shown 
by the presence at the launch of representatives of the Cunard, White 
Star, National, and Allan Lines. The launch was successfully accom- 
plished ; the ceremony of christening being performed by Lady Con- 
stance Stanley. The vessel arrived in the Mersey from her trial trip 
on the 14th of September following.^ 

The decoration of ocean steamers is generally of a hybrid sort, and 
not always in the best of taste. In the '' City of Rome" a consistent 
design has been harmoniously executed, and finds expression in richness 
of material rather than emphasis of color. An inspection of her sa- 
loons and cabins carries away a recollection of noiseless carpets, neutral 
hues, the flashings of beveled mirrors, gold and ebony panelings, em- 
broidered curtains, silver lamps, stained glass, yielding cushions of green 
velvet, and faint designs of tapestries. The decorations belong to the 
modern aesthetic, and have been chosen for their utility, appropriateness, 
and beauty. The figure-head, about three times life-size, represents a 
Roman emperor, Hadrian, modeled from the statue in the British 
Museum in strict conformity with its model. The stern is enriched 
by festoons on either side, the centre being marked by a carving of the 
arms and crest of the city of Rome. As a compliment, the munici- 
pality of the ancient metropolis sent a copy on vellum of the arms and 
crest of the city, which are hung up in one of the principal apartments 
of the vessel. 

The dimensions of the '^ City of Rome" are : Length, 586 feet ; 
extreme breadth, 52 feet 3 inches ; depth of hold, 37 feet ; tonnage, 
8826 tons; horse-power indicated, 10,000. The weight of this great 
steamer is 8000 tons, and her displacement, at 26 feet mean draught, 
is 13,500 tons; so that she has a dead-weight carrying power of 5500 
tons. The cubical contents of her hold give her a measurement capacity 
of 7720 tons, at 50 cubic feet to the ton. She has 4 masts, 3 funnels, 

1 The " City of Rome" sailed from Liverpool for New York April 6, 1882, on 
her first trip. She made her last trip as one of the Inman Line to New York in 
September. She has since been transferred to the Anchor Line, and is advertised 
by that line to sail from New York in October. She was returned to her builders by 
the Inman Company, because she fiiiled to come up to the contract in many impor- 
tant respects, notably in speed, carrying capacity, and draught of water. The Bar- 
row Ship-Building Company agreed to take her back and pay every expense the 
Inman Company had gone to with her rather than stand a suit for £125,000 ster- 
ling damages which the Inman Company had commenced. 



350 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

and has 11 compartments formed by water-tight bulkheads, each ex- 
tending to the main-deck. The largest of these compartments is 60 
feet long ; and supposing one filled with water, the trim of the vessel 
would not be materially affected. The stern frame is .the largest 
forging ever made for such a purpose, the finished weight being 33 
tons. The framing of the vessel is of the ordinary type : the floors are 
34 inches deep at the centre line. The frames are in one length from 
centre line to gunwale, and are of angle-iron 7 inches by 4 inches, and 
60 feet in length. The reverse frames are in one length of 4 inches by 
4 inches angle-iron. The beams are of the Butterley bulb sections, 
each rolled in one length. The vessel has two complete iron decks 
above, while the lower deck is complete for half the length, and has 
wide plating on each side of the remainder. The ^^City of Rome'^ 
has nine keelsons. The five central ones are of uniform height, and 
are carried unbroken through the engine- and boiler-seatings. The 
shell plating is on the principle that has been applied to all the large 
transatlantic steamers built in Barrow. The inside plates form a com- 
plete skin, fitted edge to edge and butt to butt, with covering plates 
half the width of the inside strakes fitted outside. The hold stan- 
chions are arranged in two tiers, one on each side, the better to support 
and strengthen the long beams. The question of propelling the ship 
at so high a speed as 18 knots per hour demanded careful consideration, 
and it was ultimately decided that it would be best to adhere to the 
single-screw arrangement, and adopt a propeller 24 feet in diameter, 
driven by three sets of inverted ^^ tandem" engines, working on three 
cranks disposed at an angle of 120 degrees with one another. The 
" tandem'^ engine has the high-pressure cylinder placed in a line behind 
or above the low-pressure cylinder. The crank-shaft is a built shaft, 
and, with the screw shafting, was made by Sir Joseph Whitworth & 
Co. of their fluid compressed steel. The leading particulars of the 
engines are : there are three high-pressure cylinders 43 inches diameter, 
and three low-pressure cylinders %Q inches diameter, and 6-feet stroke. 
The diameter of the crank-shaft is 25 inches, and of the crank-pins 
26 inches. The length of the main bearings is 33J inches, and of the 
crank-pins 28 inches. The crank-shaft weighs 64 tons; had it been 
made of iron, and solid, the weight would have been 73 tons. The 
propeller shafting is 24 inches diameter, and the hole through it 14 
inches diameter. The thrust-shaft has thirteen collars 39J inches diam- 
eter, giving a surface of 6000 square inches. This piece of shafting 
weighs 17 tons. The propeller-shaft is 25 inches diameter and 30J feet 
long, and weighs 18 tons. The bed-plate weighs 100 tons. The cool- 
ing surface of the condensers is 17,000 square feet, equal to nearly 17 
miles 360 yards of tubing. There are two air-pumps, 39 inches 
diameter, and 3 feet stroke, worked by levers attached to the aft and 
forward engines. There is a pumping-engine, which can be used for 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 351 

pumping heavy leaks, or can also discharge through the condenser. 
There are also three auxiliary pumping-engines, for feeding the boilers, 
for bilge-pumping, and for deck purposes. Steam is supplied by eight 
cylindrical tubular boilers, fired from both ends. Each boiler is 14 
feet mean diameter, and 19 feet long, with a steam-receiver 13 feet long 
and 4 feet diameter ; and has 6 furnaces 3 feet 9 inches diameter, 3 at 
each end : 48 furnaces in all. The fire-bars are 6 feet long, giving a 
grate surface of 1080 square feet. The shell plates of the boilers are 24 
feet 8 inches long, 4 feet 4 J inches wide, and 1\ inches thick, and weigh 
nearly 2J tons each ; all the holes are drilled. Each furnace has its 
separate combustion-chamber. These boilers are constructed for a 
working pressure of 90 pounds per square inch. The engines are in- 
tended^to work constantly at 8000 indicated horse-power, but are capa- 
ble of developing 10,000 horse-power, indicated. 

It is difficult to convey in words an adequate idea of the engine- 
room. Four Serrin lamps render it as bright as day. These lamps 
have no glass shades, and give no trouble. It may help a little to 
realize what her engines are when we state the engine-room is 50 feet 
wide and of the same length. The engines are 47 feet 8 inches high 
from the bottom of the frames to the tops of the high-pressure cylin- 
ders ; that is to say, as high as an ordinary four-story house. Access 
to the engine-room platforms is by iron staircases, which will take 
three persons abreast. Entering from the upper deck, nothing is to be 
seen but the three high-pressure cylinders and the lids of the low- 
pressure cylinders, a close grating concealing all the rest of the ma- 
chinery below. Descending the first flight of stairs, which runs fore 
and aft, we are on the second platform surrounding the low-pressure 
cylinders, which is the only hot place in the engine-room. Passing 
between the cylinders and the steps We have descended, we come to a 
second flight, aft of the engines, and running athwartships, and descend 
to the third platform, from which access is got to the two stuffing- 
boxes in the lower lid of each low-pressure cylinder. Standing here, 
and looking forward between the frames, we have a sight unique. We 
see the three mighty cross-heads, with their guides, and the jaws of 
the great connecting-rods moving up and down in rhythmical sequence 
in the vivid glare of the electric lamps, which cast strong shadows on 
the white bulkheads. Passing to the lower floor again, we have before 
us the like of which can nowhere else be seen. Here is ample room 
to walk about ; there is no steam to indicate the presence of an engine, 
for the cylinders are high over our heads. We look up and see the 
black covers looming far above ; straight before us is the crank-shaft. 
As we look at it we realize that it is the largest crank-shaft in the 
world ; it weighs QQ tons. Each of three cranks, with its shafting, 
occupies a length of 14 feet, and weighs 22 tons. A tall man, stand- 
ing beside one of the cranks, is dwarfed. Each crank-pit is a chasm. 



352 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The rush of water from the pipes over the bearings is caught, and the 
crank, which has given so much trouble, scatters a light spray, the 
drops gleaming like jewels in the electric light. The noise is monoto- 
nous, but not wearisome. The great connecting-rod brasses are just a 
little slack, and the want of lead in the slides makes the pistons slow 
in getting away from the cylinder-covers ; and we have, as the cranks 
revolve, not a blow or a knock, but a soft, all-pervading thud, as each 
centre is turned. Away aft runs the main screw-shaft, 24 inches in 
diameter. The thrust-shaft has 12 collars 4 feet in diameter, and weighs 
17 tons. Following it down the long tunnel we lose by degrees all the 
sights and sounds of the ship. Then a noise, as of a village water- 
wheel, a pattering and murmuring of water, reaches us. Standing on 
an angle-iron brace, we look through a hole in the last bulkhead in the 
ship, and see by the light of an engine-room lamp a small pool of 
water under the end of the stern-tube, and in this pool dips the last 
coupling, 4 feet in diameter, like its fellows ; and the nuts and the 
heads of the bolts of the coupling patter in the water, and make the 
sounds which have different associations. It may be well to explain, 
with reference to the engines, that the bald figures of horse-power do 
not express the true significance of the progress which has been made 
in that department of naval science. The engines now in use are not 
only infinitely more powerful, but they are relatively more economical. 
The engines, with which earlier vessels were equipped, have been 
superseded by compound condensing-engines, which accumulate force 
and utilize the steam more fully, so that with a reduced consumption 
of fuel there is an increased power of propulsion. Without this prog- 
ress in engineering skill the development of steam navigation would 
have been impossible. Either the vessels could not have carried a 
sufficiency of fuel, or the storage' of it would have engrossed so large 
a proportion of the cargo space that they could not have been worked 
profitably.^ 

An example of the revolution in the engine-room may be cited 
from one of the Inman steamers. The " City of Brussels'' was placed 
on the line in 1869, when she was regarded as a model of nautical 
excellence, — the " crack'' ship of her day. But within seven years of 
her launch, while her hull and sailing appointments were in undi- 
minished efficiency, her machinery had become antiquated, and she was 
furnished with entirely new engines. This costly renovation was made 
with the result that by the new compound engines equal power was 
attained on a much smaller consumption of coal. It is needless to 
explain that to save 40 to 50 tons of coal per day was a direct economy 
of fuel, and a gain of space for the stowage of freight-earning cargo. 
In fact, by the change of engines the consumption of fuel was reduced 
from about 110 tons per day to less than 65 tons, and the cargo space 
1 This fulfills Dr. Lardner's famous opinion or prediction. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 353 

augmented by about 800 tons, with an increase of propelling power. 
Compound engines have introduced a revolution almost as complete as 
did first the paddle-wheels and next the screw, and are now universal 
in ocean-going steamers, one of the largest sets ever constructed being 
fitted on board the " City of Rome/' 

On the trial trip of the " City of Rome," working at three-quarters 
speed, with 45 revolutions per minute, the measured mile was per- 
formed at the rate of 15f knots per hour; but as the engines at full 
speed make 58 or 60 revolutions per minute, the ship will, it is ex- 
pected, in practice attain a speed of 17 or 18 knots per hour. In the 
series of tests the engines worked with great smoothness, and it was 
demonstrated that they could be brought to a dead stop in two seconds 
by the turning of a single lever, and that from going full speed ahead 
they could be reversed to full speed astern in the space of five seconds. 

The internal arrangements of the " City of Rome'' are of the most 
complete nature. The promenade-deck carries at the fore end the 
saloon skylight. In the hurricane deck-house the captain's and chief 
officer's cabins are placed close to the steering-house and lookout bridge, 
so that they are always near in case of necessity. Abaft this is the 
upper saloon, and abaft this the upper smoking-rooms is a novel 
feature, it being thought advisable, in view of the large number of 
passengers, to fit two smoking-rooms, with separate stairs to the cabin- 
deck. In the after deck-house is a saloon or lounge for ladies, fitted 
up in the most elegant manner, to prevent the going below in showery 
weather. Abaft is a companion leading to the sleeping-cabins. At 
the sides of the hurricane-deck are twelve life-boats, one fitted up as a 
steam-launch. On this deck are placed capstans, and at each of the 
cargo hatchways steam-winches for working the cargo. On the upper 
deck is the drawing-room, one hundred feet long, for the use of pas- 
sengers. This apartment, which is fitted very handsomely with lounges, 
is in the form of a wide gallery, with a rectangular opening into the 
dining-saloon below, thus giving height and light to the latter apart- 
ment. Above is a large skylight, richly ornamented ; at the fore end 
is a grand piano, and at the after end the grand staircase to the 
dining-room below. Here, also, is the lower smoking-room, which is 
fitted similarly to the upper ; the paneling of these rooms is in wain- 
scot oak, the floor is laid in mosaic pavement, and the upholstery in 
morocco leather. Abaft this are the rooms for the officers and engi- 
neers. The height in the 'tween decks is 9 feet. The grand dining- 
saloon is 72 feet long, 52 feet wide, and 9 feet high, or 17 feet in the 
opening to the drawing-room above. This opening, surmounted by 
the skylight, forms an effective and elegant relief to the flat and heavy 
ceiling. The paneling and decorations are artistic and unique. The 
apartment accommodates two hundred and fifty first-class passengers. 
The chairs are of polished teak-wood, neatly fluted, with the Inman 

25 



354 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

monogram carved in open work. They revolve on pivots, and are 
numbered to correspond with the state-rooms. At night the saloon is 
lit by thirty-two Swan incandescent electric lamps, pendent from the 
ceiling, giving the whole a brilliant appearance. A paneled dado, of 
quaint design, three feet high, is carried entirely round the saloon, and 
from the dado cornice to the line of the ceiling the wall is treated with 
rich panels of figured mahogany, bordered with a margin of satin- 
wood, alternating with the side-light casings. These side-lights are 
more architectural than is usually found on board steamships. An 
architrave is carried in a square form round the side-lights, inclosing a 
secondary sill, and runs down to the top of the dado. From the 
centres of each of the intermediate panels the corbels (elaborate pieces 
of molded and carved oak) spring, making the lines of the ceiling 
construction, and carrying them down on the walls. At the level of 
the corbel capitals the ceiling rises upon elliptic arches between the 
beams, suggesting the fan vaunting, which is so beautiful in Gothic 
architecture^ The music-room is immediately above the saloon, and is 
rather more severe in its style, being finished in black and gold. The 
room is surmounted by a handsome circular skylight, twenty feet long 
by ten feet wide, which throws down a flood of light to the dining- 
and music- rooms. A special feature in this skylight is the introduc- 
tion of oval lights, enlarged to double the area where they pass into 
the ceiling of the dining-saloon. An organ is in the dining-saloon, 
and a grand piano in the music-room. The ladies' boudoir, on the 
main-deck, is fitted in a very handsome manner, the walls being pan- 
eled in figured brocaded silk, and the ceiling in Japanese leather 
paper. The couch is upholstered in blue velvet, with tapestry curtains. 
Alongside are baths, etc., for the lady passengers. On the hurricane- 
deck is another boudoir, treated in a contrast, with black and gold. 
The furniture and upholstery of this boudoir is of amber-colored plush 
velvet, and the window-hangings and door portiere are of Roman cloth 
of the same tone, banded with stripes of plush. The smoking-rooms 
are beautifully fitted, that on the saloon-deck having a novel treatment 
of wall paneling of original Japanese water-color sketches of birds 
and flowers. The seats are covered with pig-skin leather. The wood- 
work of the walls, etc., in the upper smoking-room is of pencil cedar- 
wood ; in the lower of mahogany, oak, and walnut. The floors of 
those apartments are laid with parquetry. Abaft the music-saloon are 
the repositories for the plate and dishes for the service of the table, 
and abaft of these the cook's and steward's portion of the ship. The 
breadth and general style of the kitchen may surprise many, but when 
the number of passengers is taken into account wonder at the gigantic 
proportions for feeding them will cease. Four hundred cabin pas- 
sengers and 1800 steerage, with about 240 of a crew, may have to be 
provided for on a voyage, and in that aspect the rooms for cooks and 



HI8T0EY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 355 

stewards are none too many. Going aft beyond the regions where the 
cook presides, we come on the engine-room. Nearer the stern we come 
to the quarters of the steerage passengers, and these, though of course 
not rich like the cabin, are roomy and clean to a degree that would 
surprise old Atlantic stagers. Still aft there is an engine for the ser- 
vice of the electric light, with which the whole ship is to be fitted. 
An ominous notice warns all who come near that instantaneous death 
may result from the incautious handling of the wires. At the stern 
there is a ponderous steering apparatus, although the place from which 
the steering is to be done is far off on the captain's bridge, where there 
is the now familiar little wheel which is used in steering by steam. 

The crew numbers, when the full complement is aboard, 240. 
There are berths for 54 firemen and 50 seamen, while over 100 are in 
the cook and steward's department, and 12 directly connected with the 
engine-room. 

Opening through double spring-doors at the foot of the grand stair- 
case, and under, is an American luncheon-bar, with the usual fittings. 
On each side, from the saloon to the after end of the engine-room, are 
state-rooms, providing for 300 passengers. Amidships are retiring- 
rooms, baths, and lavatories, barber's shop, etc. Accommodation is 
provided on the main-deck for 500 emigrants, and on the lower deck 
for 1000 more, making a grand total of 1500. The berths are ar- 
ranged in single tiers or half-rooms, each separated by a passage, and 
having a large side-light, adding greatly to the light, ventilation, and 
comfort of the passengers, besides the advantage of a lesser number of 
persons in each room. Comfortable and properly equipped wash- 
rooms are provided for both sexes. 

In proportions and design the ^' City of Rome" presents a remark- 
able contrast to the " Great Eastern," to which she stands next in 
magnitude in the mercantile marine. Brunei's vessel suggests a stately 
ark, with towering walls and ponderous hull, massive, stupendous, 
rather than elegant. The conditions are reversed in this vessel. The 
" City of E-ome'^ is of great length, tapering form, symmetrical lines, 
and graceful mold, so that the inexperienced observer is unable to 
realize her enormous dimensions. The difference of proportions be- 
tween the two vessels shows how scientific theory is modified by prac- 
tical experiment. In designing the ^' Great Eastern," Brunei had no 
other guide than his scientific knowledge ; there were no gradations 
between the puny vessels of five-and-twenty years ago and the levia- 
than he constructed ; and he reckoned the length, beam, and depth on 
bases which the practice of later ship-building has not confirmed. The 
tendency of naval construction in the merchant navy is to lengthen the 
hulls, without, in any appreciable degree, increasing the beam or depth 
of the hold. This is apparent by comparing the dimensions of 
these typical vessels, the ^' Great Eastern" and the " City of Rome." 



356 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

The leugth of the former is 680 feet ; her breadth of beam, 83 feet; 
depth, 60 feet. The measurements of the " City of Rome'^ are : 
Length, 686 feet ; breadth of beam, 52 feet 3 inches ; and depth of 
hold, 37 feet ; while in length she closely approximates to her rival^ 
in breadth and depth she is little more than half the magnitude. It 
is in these differences of proportion that the disparity of tonnage is to 
be found. The " Great Eastern'^ is of enormously greater cubical 
capacity from her breadth and depth ; though less tall and bulky of 
hull, the '' City of Rome'^ is of great cargo capacity. Her length and 
beautiful lines suggest an impression of buoyant grace rather than of 
vast magnitude ; yet her carrying power, notwithstanding her clipper 
bow and rounded stern, is greater than any other vessel afloat, except 
the " Great Eastern." 

The fleet of the Inman Line is now (1882) composed of the fol- 
lowing steamships : '^ City of Berlin," 5491 tons ; ^' City of Rich- 
mond," 4607 tons; "City of Chester," 4566 tons; "City of Paris," 
3500 tons ; " City of Montreal," 4490 tons ; " City of Brussels," 3775 
tons; "City of New York," 3500 tons, which leave New York for 
Liverpool Thursdays or Saturdays, and Liverpool for New York 
Tuesdays or Thursdays. 

With the latest vessels added to the fleets of the Cunard, the In- 
man, the Guion, and the Anchor Companies, it is possible to gain an 
idea of the ocean ships of the future. So far as size, speed, and com- 
fort are concerned, these are as much in advance of the Atlantic 
liners of which we were so proud a quarter of a century ago as those 
were improvements on the earliest specimens of river passenger 
steamers. A great point was thought to be reached when the Cunard 
Company built the "Scotia" and the " Persia," or when the Inman 
Company became possessed of the " City of Glasgow ;" but the finest 
of these steamers was not much above half the size of the " Servia" 
or the " City of Rome," whilst its engine-power was comparatively 
infinitesimal. No better illustration of the changes that have taken 
place in our ocean fleet could be given than a reference to the statistics 
bearing on the size of some of the early and some of the latesfAtlan- 
tic liners. The Cunarder "Scotia," which was launched on the Clyde 
in 1862, and was then considered the best specimen of her type, 
measured 379 feet in length, and had a breadth of 47 feet 8 inches, 
and a depth of 30 feet 5 inches. Her tonnage was 3871, and she 
was fitted with side-lever engines indicating 1000 horse-power. The 
" City of Glasgow," belonging to the Inman Company some years 
earlier, measured 277 feet long by 32 feet 7 inches broad, and 24 feet 
7 inches deep. She was 1600 tons burden, and her engines were 380 
horse-power. According to popular theory, the limits of practicable 
ship-building were reached when the "City of Berlin," five years ago, 
was introduced into the Inman fleet, she being then the largest vessel 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 357 

afloat (excepting the " Great Eastern"), and it being assumed finality 
had been reached in the magnitude of ocean-going steamers. Her 
measurements, in contrast with the pioneer of the service, testify to the 
progress which twenty-five years have witnessed in the development of 
steam navigation. Her length is 520 feet; breadth, 44 feet ; depth to 
spar-deck, 37 feet; and her gross measurement 5481 tons. Her 
engine-power being 900 horse-power nominal, but capable of working 
up to 4800 horse-power indicated. Compare these figures with the 
dimensions of the '^ Servia" or the "City of Rome.'' The " Servia" 
has a length of 530 feet, a beam of 52 feet, a depth of 41 feet, a 
carrying capacity of at least 8500 tons, and is fitted with engines cal- 
culated to develop an indicated horse -power of 10,500 tons. The 
"City of Rome" is: Length, 586 feet; breadth, 52 feet 3 inches; 
depth, 37 feet ; tonnage upward of 8000 ; and engine-power, 10,000. 
These facts are striking, but they fail to exhaust the comparisons which 
might be drawn between the vessels formerly engaged in the ocean 
traffic and the ships which are taking their place. Those who inspect 
the " Servia" or the " City of Rome" will become aware of an untold 
number of ingenious contrivances by which the comfort and safety of 
the passengers are now assured. The vessel of the future is not only a 
model of speed and of large cargo capacity, it also is a model of luxury. 
Where, it may be asked, is this peaceful rivalry in the production 
of big ships to stop ? Are ship-builders and ship-owners to go on 
increasing the size of the ocean-liners until they rival the " Great 
Eastern" ? It is impossible to place any limit on such an enterprise ; 
but it may safely be taken for granted that if ships of the dimensions 
of the " Great Eastern" become necessary, the errors which have made 
her failure conspicuous will be avoided. It is evident if Mr. Brunei, 
in building that vessel, could have adopted the principle of the com- 
pound engine, her fate might have been different. Instead of being 
under the necessity of putting the great ship up to auction after a by 
no means brilliant career, the share-holders might be enjoying the 
profits which are to be reaped in ocean transport. The danger is that 
in the race for the possession of huge floating palaces the steamship 
companies may outrun the wants of travelers. If the ocean fleets of 
the future are to be composed of such vessels, an enormous increase of 
the traveling public will be essential to the continued prosperity of the 
industry. Any improvement in the facilities with which a transatlan- 
tic voyage can be made is sure to bring its own reward. The time 
when ocean travel was attended with misgivings, or was a luxury re- 
served for men of wealth and leisure, has passed. With the appear- 
ance of ships that will traverse the Atlantic in less than a week, a 
holiday trip to Europe may be as cheap as restorative. The president 
of the Scotch Engineers' and Ship-builders' Society recently declared 
that in a few years " we shall have steamships starting from each side 



358 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



of the Atlantic every morning, noon, and night, and arriving on the oppo- 
site shores with as much regularity as our present express railway trains 
arrive at the termination of a journey of four or five hundred miles.'' 

In passenger accommodations the ships of the Inman Line are 
superior to most Clyde-built ships, and their design shows an inclina- 
tion to break from the restrictive and uninventive habit which is said 
to hamper the British ship-builder. "Give an English carpenter a 
certain space in an unfinished ship, and tell him to fit it up as, for 
instance, a chart-room," a gentleman connected with one of the lines 
recently said, '' and he will repeat exactly what he did in fitting up the 
previous ships, without stopping a moment to consider if some change 
is not desirable and possible. An American carpenter, on the con- 
trary," this critic, who was an Euglishman, continued, " will rack his 
brains for improvements, and the ship he fits up to-day is sure to be 
more comfortable than the one he fitted up yesterday." 

The following vessels have been bought and built or have passed 
through the Inman Company's hands since its establishment in 1850: 



Name. 



City of Rome* .... 
City of Berlin .... 
City of Richmond . . 
City of Chester . . . 
City of Montreal . . 
City of Brussels . . . 
City of New York (en- 
larged) 

City of Paris . . . . 
City of London . . . 
City of Brooklyn . . 
City of Washington . 
City of Bristol . . . . 
City of Antwerp . . . 
City of Limerick . . 
City of New York . . 
City of Baltimore! . . 



1881 586 
1874 489 
1873 450 
1873! 444 
18721419 
1869,390 

1865 375 

1866 398 
1863 1 374 
1869 354 

1853 358 
1860 349 
18671332 
1863 '331 
1865 326 40 

1854 326 '39 



26 1 



Tonnage. 



Gross. Net 



8415 
5491 
4607 
4566 
4489 
3775 

3499 
3081 
2765 
2911 
2870 
2655 
2391 
2536 
2360 
2472 



2957 
2824 
2713 
2939 
2434 

2380 
1975 
1880 
1980 
1951 
1805 
1626 
1724 
1679 
1774 



Name. 



City of Boston . . , 

^tnaj 

City of Dublin? . . . 

Edinburgh II 

City of Philadelphia^ 

Glasgow 

Vigo** 

City of Manchesterft 

Kangaroo II 

City of Glasgow^ . . 

Nemesis 

City of Corkft • • . 
City of Halifax? . . 
City of Durham? . . 

Bosphorus 

Hercules 

Ajax ........ 



1851 



1864 313 39 

. . 1309137 
. . 318;36 
. . '30040 
1854, 294 39 
262 '36 
270,35 
262 36 
257136 
227 j 33 
353142 
265 33 
204 30 
20129 
174 24 
122 23 
108,23 



Tonnage. 



^ 'Gross, 



1850 



1865 
1856 
1856 
1856 



26 2213 

27 2190 
26 1999 
25 2197 
i26, 2168 
'25! 1962 
i25! 1953 
!25l 1906 
■27^ 1719 
25 1609 
'28' 2717 
'26! 1547 
18 770 
'17 
,15 
'lO 



448 
211 
163 



Net. 



1649 

1564 

1548 

1494 

1648 

1152 

1250 

1296 

1169 

1087 

1587 

1082 

523 

538 

333 

174 

133 



* Returned to the builders as not fulfilling the contract, and since transferred to the Anchor 
Line, October, 1882. 

t Sold March, 1874, and now running between Liverpool and Bombay. 

+ Purchased from Cunard Company. g Sold 1872. || Sold 1869. 

^ Lost 1854. ** Sold 1861. ft Sold 1871. 

The present fleet of the transatlantic steamers of the Inman Line 



are: 



Name. 


Built. 


Gross 
Tons. 


Name. 


Built. 


Gross 
Tons. 


City of Berlin .... 
City of Eichmond . . 
City of Chester . . . 
City of Paris .... 


1874 
1873 
1873 
1865 


5491 
4607 
4566 
8091 


j City of Montreal . . 
City of Brussels . . . 
City of New York . 
City of Borne .... 


1872 
1869 
1865 
1881 


4490 
3775 
3500 
8415 



18S1. — The Messageries Maritimes. — Much the largest mari- 
time undertaking engaged in the trade of the Mediterranean and else- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 359 

where is that of the Messageries Maritimes, formerly the Messageries 
Imperiales, monopolizing, as it does, nearly the whole of the steam 
tonnage of France. Indeed, apart from the vessels owned by this 
company, and one or two highly subsidized, the French may be said 
to have no steamers. In 1873 the whole steam tonnage of France 
amounted to one hundred and eighty-five thousand one hundred and 
sixty-five tons net register, and in 1875 the gross tonnage of the fleet 
of Messageries Maritimes was one hundred and twenty-four thousand 
nine hundred and seventy-six tons. The Messageries Maritimes is a 
pure creation of the government, raised with the greatest care from its 
infancy, and maintained by large grants from the public purse. Pre- 
viously to 1851 the company had been chiefly engaged as carriers by 
land, and was under contract for the conveyance of the mails through- 
out a considerable portion of France. In July, 1851, the company 
entered upon its first over-sea contract for the conveyance of the French 
mails to Italy, the Levant, Greece, Egypt, and Syria, and in 1852 
added to their service the principal ports of Greece and Salonica. 

In 1854 the managers contracted for the transport of all troops 
and military stores between France and Algeria, besides the convey- 
ance of the mails, and having increased their fleet to meet the require- 
ments of the Crimean campaign, were in 1855 enabled to open between 
Marseilles, Civita Vecchia, and Naples a direct weekly line of steamers, 
independently of the postal service. After the close of the Crimean 
war, in 1856, the directors employed their disposable vessels in in- 
creasing the frequency of services to Algeria, and in establishing a 
postal service between Marseilles and the ports of the Danube and 
along the east coast of the Black Sea. In 1857 they entered into 
arrangements for the conveyance of the French mails between Bor- 
deaux, the Brazils, and the La Plata. At that time the fleet of the 
company had reached fifty-four ships of eighty thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-five tons and fifteen thousand two hundred and forty 
horse-power, and they obtained from their government in 1861 a con- 
tract for the conveyance of the French mails to India and China. In 
1871 their fleet, measuring one hundred and thirty-seven thousand 
three hundred and thirty-four tons, of twenty thousand eight hundred 
and eighty-five horse-power, performed service on the India and China 
routes of two hundred and thirty thousand one hundred and thirty-five 
French leagues ; on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, one hundred 
and fifty-three thousand four hundred and seventy-eight ; and on the 
Brazilian, fifty thousand and four. In all, four hundred and twenty- 
three thousand six hundred and seven leagues annually, independently 
of various extra services. Since then their Brazilian and La Plata 
lines have been doubled. At the first their vessels were built in Eng- 
land, but the company now possesses large establishments of its own, 
where they construct screws steamers of iron of the largest size. The 



360 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

ships of the Messageries Maritimes, like those of their great com- 
petitors for the trade of the East, the Peninsular and Oriental Com- 
pany, now pass through the Suez Canal.^ 

1855. — The Hambueg- American Packet Company. — The 
Hamburg-American Packet Company, which has now a weekly ser- 
vice between New York and Hamburg, touching at Havre on the 
western trips and at Plymouth and Cherbourg on the eastern, was 
established in 1847 at Hamburg, its first vessels being first-class sailing- 
ships. Mr. Adolf Godeffroy, of Hamburg, elected president of the 
company at its formation, still retains that responsible position. Its 
ships, which w^re built expressly for its service, had excellent cabin 
accommodations, and quarters in the steerage for emigrants even supe- 
rior to anything that had previously been offered to that class, and the 
new line met a want that had for some time existed, supplying direct 
and first-class accommodation for travelers between Germany and the 
United States. The first two vessels were the ^' Deutschland'^ and the 
" Nordamerica," which came to New York first in 1848, and were 
followed in succession by the ^' Elbe,'^ '' Ehein,'^ '' Oder,^^ '^ Donau," 
^^ Alair,'' '^ Weser," and '^ Neckar f and while sailing-ships were the 
best means of transport between the two countries, the vessels of this 
line were not surpassed by any others until by the famous American 
lines of sailing-ships between New York and Liverpool. 

The introduction of lines of screw steamers, however, between 
Liverpool and New York, and their keen competition for the German 
and French emigrants, convinced the directors that if this line desired 
to retain its supremacy it must avail itself of the most approved 
method of transport, and, foreseeing that steam must inevitably super- 
sede canvas as a method of propulsion for sea-going vessels, measures 
were taken to increase the capital of the company, and Caird & Co., 
of Greenock, Scotland, were ordered to build two screw steamships. 
The result of this order was the launching in 1855 of the '' Ham- 
monia" and the " Borussia.'^ Just then, however, there was an active 
demand for transports sailing under a neutral flag, and the company 
chartered its two new steamers to the allied French and English 
governments, and they were sent to the Crimea. Their charters ex- 
pired in the spring of 1856, and on the 1st of June in that year the 
"Borussia^^ left Hamburg for New York, arriving here on the 16th 
of June, she being really the pioneer of the present line, for the old 
sailing-packets were soon all replaced by steamers. The " Hammonia'^ 
left Hamburg on the 1st of July, and from that time a monthly steam 
service was maintained. The new ships were fine vessels, ably com- 

1 The English Peninsular and Oriental Company, in 1875, for a service of 
1,171,092 miles, received £430,000, while the Messageries Maritiraes, for a service 
of 631,514 miles, or little more than half as much, received £399,838. It will be 
perceived that both were pretty heavily subsidized. ^ 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 361 

manded and officered. Close attention was given by the company's 
agents on either side of the water to the proper working of the 
steward's department, and the line became a favorite from the start. 
The management of the company was already popular in connection 
with the sailing-vessels, and their adoption of a steam line in its stead 
was the cause of much gratification to those who had friends in Ger- 
many desiring to come to this country. 

The Hamburg Company met with sufficient encouragement to in- 
duce them to double their steamers and increase the service from a 
monthly to a semi-monthly one, and in 1856 the ''Bavaria" and the 
" Teutonia" were added to the fleet. They were built at Greenock, 
and were 2273 and 2031 tons measurement respectively. Next year 
was a year of panic and great commercial depression, and the new 
enterprise of the Hamburg Company had to bear its share of the gen- 
eral disaster; nevertheless, in this year another new steamer was 
added, the " Saxonia/' of 2404 tons. All the old sailing-ships were now 
sold off as fast as practicable, and the line became a steam line solely. 

Although their steamers w^ere as fast as any afloat and were noted 
for their excellence as sea-boats, the aim of the management was to 
secure regularity of passage and perfect safety rather than great speed. 
No racing passages were, therefore, ever allowed. 

In 1861 the service was again increased, a steamer being dispatched 
from New York Qw^ry Saturday. This change had been contemplated 
for some time, but was hastened by the charter of the Yanderbilt 
steamers to the United States government, and the United States mails 
were given to the Hamburg Company in addition to the direct German 
mail, which it had carried from the first. This extra service necessi- 
tated the addition of more steamers, and in 1863 the "Germania'' 
was built by the Messrs. Caird & Co., at Greenock, followed the next 
year by the " Allemannia,'' built by Messrs. Day & Co. at Southampton. 

In 1867 the first steamer " Hammonia" was sold, and her name 
changed to the '' Belgian,'' and the Hamburg Company built a new 
steamer " Hammonia" at Greenock. This steamer was 300 feet long, 
40 feet beam, and 33 feet deep, and registered 2967 tons. The '' Cim- 
bria," of about the same size, was also built in 1867. Next year the 
^' Holsatia" and " Westphalia" were built, being larger vessels than 
either of the previous steamers, the " Holsatia" being 3134 and the 
" Westphalia" 3500 tons. In 1869 the " Silesia," of 3156 tons, was 
added, and in 1870 the " Thuringia" was launched at Greenock. 

The older steamers were now withdrawn from the New York Line, 
and a new line was established by this company between Hamburg 
and New Orleans, and an attempt made to maintain a service from 
Hamburg to the West Indies and Aspinwall. Here it came into keen 
competition with the North German Lloyd, and as there was not suffi- 
cient business for both, the two companies finally agreed that the North 



362 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

German Lloyd should have the New Orleans Line ; and the Hamburg 
Line kept the West India service, with Aspinwall as the final port of 
destination. 

The Franco-German War, in 1870, caused an interruption of the 
Hamburg Company's service for three months, after which the weekly 
service 'to New York was resumed. In 1872 the '^ Frisia'' was built 
at Greenock. In 1873 the "Pomerania" was added from the same 
builders, and in 1874 the " Suevia." This, the last steamer built by 
the Hamburg Line, is the largest. She is 360 feet long, 41 feet beam, 
and 26 feet deep, and registers 3624 tons. Like all the other boats, 
she is brig-rigged 'and is propelled by two compound inverted direct- 
acting engines fitted with surface condensers. Her cylinders are 48 
and 80 inches respectively in diameter, with 5 feet stroke of piston. 
She is divided into compartments by seven water-tight bulkheads, and 
is a first-class vessel, having no superior in the ocean service. Below, 
her arrangements for passengers are on the most liberal scale, her rooms 
for cabin passengers being of extra size and well ventilated, while the 
quarters for steerage passengers are convenient and commodious. Her 
great power and fine model insured a regularity and rapidity of passage 
which has never been interrupted. 

The years which immediately followed the building of this steamer 
were years of reverse to the Hamburg Company. The panic of 1873 
in this country had checked emigration, and in addition to this the 
establishment of the Eagle Line between New York and Hamburg 
caused a competition which was ruinous. With the decrease in the 
number of passengers came, of course, a surplus of freight-room, and 
freights from all European ports fell greatly in consequence. All 
these causes were felt so severely by the Hamburg- American Packet 
Company that in 1875, for its own salvation, it was obliged to buy up 
the floating property of the Eagle Line, which forthwith went into 
liquidation. By this operation the steamers ^^ Herder," ^'Lessing," 
" Gellert," and " Wieland" were added to the New York Line. These 
were all very fine steamers, built at Glasgow expressly for the Eagle 
Line, and would have been a great acquisition to the Hamburg Line 
if they had not been too much in the nature of too much of a good 
thing. They were about 3500 tons each ; the *^ Herder'^ was built in 
1873; the "Lessing" and '^Wieland'' in 1874; and the " Gellert" in 
1875. Still, although the company was saddled with a surplus of 
steamers, the vexatious opposition was removed, and the New York 
service again became profitable. The threatened war between Russia 
and England in 1878 enabled the Hamburg Company to dispose of 
some of its surplus steamers, and the '* Holsatia," " Hammonia," and 
^' Thuringia'' were sold to the Russian government. 

The fleet, of the Hamburg-American Packet Company in 1882 
consists of twenty-four ocean steamships, — viz., ^^ Albingia,'' " Alle- 



i.':>a*.-,-;'.^t>i,ii*l.: 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 363 

mannia," " Bavaria/' " Bohemia," '^ Borussia/' " Cimbria/' ^' Cyclop/' 
"Frisia/' "Gellert/' " Hammonia/' "Herder/' " Holsatia/' ^^Less- 
iDg/' " Lotharingia/' "Ehenania/' " Kugia/' "Saxonia/' "Silesia/' 
"Suevia/' " Teutonia/' "Thuringia/' " Vandalia/' "Westphalia/' 
" Wieland/' — besides a number of smaller steamers employed as feeders 
for the West India Line and elsewhere, and a large number of river 
passenger steamers, tugboats, lighters, floating steam-winches, steam- 
sloops, etc., which are necessary accessories to so large a service. 

18S6. — The Anchor Line. — Some fifty years ago four small Scotch 
boys started from the Clyde in little smacks, then served consecutively 
in schooners, brigs, barks, ships, and steamers, until conversant with 
every detail connected with all these types of vessels ; with knowledge 
acquired and sterling integrity, and practicing economy, they grew up 
to manhood, and saw attempts made to establish steam traffic between 
Glasgow and the Western Continent, and as often saw them fail. In 
due time they banded together, and these little Scotch boys became the 
well-known firm of " Handyside & Henderson," of Glasgow, the 
originators of the "Anchor Line." Their first efforts were in small 
sailing-vessels in the Mediterranean fruit trade, and they finally pur- 
chased the steamer " Inez de Castro" and another small craft. They 
then altered the ship "John Bell" into an auxiliary steamer, and 
another sailing-ship, the " Tempest/' in the same manner, and with 
these two vessels inaugurated the Anchor Line. The story of the 
" Tempest," the pioneer of this line, is soon told : " Tlie good die 
young J^ She was lost on her second return trip. 

The Anchor Line came into existence, with these two converted 
vessels, in 1856, and as early as 1872 seventeen steamships had been 
constructed for its service between New York and Glasgow, besides 
thirty steamships for its service in the Mediterranean. At the present 
time (1882) steamships of the line, carrying the United States mail, sail 
from New York every Saturday, calling at Londonderry on the voyage 
to Glasgow, and from Glasgow every Thursday, also from London 
every Saturday, sailing the same day of the week from New York for 
London. There is also a branch of this line sailing between Barrow- 
in-Furness (touching at Dublin) and New York about once a fortnight. 
For several years the company applied its energies in developing the 
Peninsular and Mediterranean branch of their service. Steamships of 
this line sail from Glasgow every fourteen days for Lisbon, Gibraltar, 
Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, and Palermo. In 1863 they deter- 
mined to vigorously prosecute the Glasgow and New York trade, and 
built the "Caledonia" and the "Britannia." In 1868-70 serious dis- 
asters befell the company, and in a few months they chronicled the 
losses of the " Hibernia," " United Kingdom," and " Cambria." 

On the arrival of the "Iowa" at New York, June 29, 1867, the 
dw^arfs, Tom Thumb and wife and Commodore Nutt and wife, who were 



364 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



passengers, united in a letter of thanks for the care and attention they 
had received. 

The company flag which gives name to the line is a white burgee, 
on which is borne a red anchor horizontally. 

On the 14th of August, 1872, the owners and agents of the Anchor 
Line signalized the advent of their latest and at that time best steamer, 
the " California,'^ an iron screw steamship of 3208 gross tons, 361.5 feet 
length, 40.5 feet beam, and a working horse-power of 1047, by an 
excursion to Long Branch. The company numbered four hundred, and 
after an absence of eight hours returned to New York City. The band 
of the Seventh Regiment and two bagpipers in Highland costume enter- 
tained the company, and the whole four hundred guests were at one time 
seated at tables spread between decks, provided with every delicacy that 
the markets of the Old and the New World afforded. 

A passenger describing the ^' California'^ says, " The grand saloon, 
forty-five feet long by forty wide, is finished in a scale of magnificence 
which is carried out in every part of the floating palace. The paneling 
is of polished oak, interlaid with rich dog- and white-wood, adorned 
with rich carving and gold. The smoking-saloon is luxuriously fitted, 
and painted in a tint of sea-green, and silver-plated chandeliers drop 
from the ceiling. Each state-room has its electric bell. Two large 
bath-rooms are on each side of the vessel. The ladies' boudoir is deco- 
rated in sea-green tints, dotted and striped in gold, with delicate birds 
perched in the centre of each broad panel. She has accommodations for 
one hundred and fifty first-class and nine hundred steerage passengers." 

The present fleet of the Anchor Line is as follows ; the names of 
the vessels, with few exceptions, end in ^' m^' : 



TRANSATLANTIC, PENINSULAR, MEDITERRANEAN, AND ORIENTAL 
STEAMSHIPS OF THE ANCHOR LINE IN 1882.^ 



Name. 


Service. 


Built. 


Registered 
Tonnage. 


Name. 


Service. 


Built. 


Registered 
Tonnage. 


Acadia . . . 


Med. and Or. 


1866 




1081 


Ethiopia . . 


Transatlantic 


1873 


4004 


Alexandria . 




1870 


. 1629 I 


Furnessia . 


" 


1881 


5496 


Alsatia . . . 




1876 


3000 


Galatia. . . 


Med. and Or. 


_ 


3125 


Anchoria . . 


Transatlantic 


1875 


4176 


Hesperia . . 




. . 


3125 


Armenia . . 


Med. and Or. 


-. . 


3380 


Hispania . . 






3380 


Assyria . . . 




1871 


1623 


India . . . 




1869 


2289 


Australia . . 


<' 


1870 


2243 


Ischia . . . 


" 




3125 


Belgravia . . 


" 




5000 


Italia. . . . 




1872 


2245 


Britannia . , 


»< 


1863 


2200 


Justitia. . . 




. . 


3125 


Bolivia . . . 


Transatlantic 


1873 


4050 


Macedonia . 






2272 


Caledonia . 


Med. and Or. 


1872 


2125 


Olympia . . 




1872 


2050 


California . 




1872 


3287 


Roumania . 




. . 


3500 


Castalia. . . 


" 


1873 


2200 


Scandinavia 




1865 


1135 


Circassia . . 


Transatlantic 




4200 


Scotia . . . 




1866 


1103 


City of Rome 


" 




. . 


Sidonian . . 




1870 


1235 


Columbia . . 


Med. and Or. 


1867 


2000 


Trinacria . 




1871 


2107 


Devonia . . 


Transatlantic 




4200 


Tyrian . . . 




1869 


1038 


Dorion . . . 


Med. and Or. 


1868 


1038 


Utopia . . . 




1873 


2731 


Elysia . . . 




1873 


2733 


Victoria . . 




1872 


3242 



1 The date of building is given v^hen known, 
not given have been built since 1873. 



Those whose date of building is 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 365 

To obviate the risk of collision, lessen the dangers of navigation, 
and insure fine weather, the owners of the Anchor Line have adopted 
Maury's system of separate steam lane routes for their Atlantic steam- 
ships, whereby the most southerly route practicable is regularly main- 
tained throughout all seasons of the year. 

The '' Furnessia," the latest addition to the fleet, the "City of 
Rome" excepted, was built at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England, 
and was, when launched, the largest vessel ever built in England save 
the "Great Eastern." She has since been surpassed by the "City of 
Rome," " Servia," etc. Her dimensions are : Length, 445 feet; beam, 
44 feet 6 inches ; depth of hold, 34 feet 6 inches ; her registered ton- 
nage is 5496; gross tonnage, 6500 tons; and her displacement when 
drawing twenty-six feet of water, 9900 tons. She is brig-rigged, and 
has two funnels. Her engines are 3500 horse-power. The diameter 
of the propeller is 20 feet 6 inches. The engines, fitted with Rogers's 
patent exhauster, have special fire-engines and emergency pumps for 
pumping in case of collision or accident. She has steam steering-gear, 
winches, cranes, etc., and her hull is divided into nine water-tight com- 
partments. 

The promenade-deck, which stretches from nearly amidships to the 
stern of the steamer, is surmounted by a deck-house, of which one- 
half is utilized as a comfortable smoking-room. Opposite the entrance 
to the smoking-room is a staircase which descends to the music- or draw- 
ing-room on the spar-deck. The walls of this music-room are lined 
with panels of walnut and satin-wood. The seats around the apart- 
ment are upholstered in brown morocco, and around the staircase lead- 
ing to the main-deck are ornamental boxes filled with exotic plants. 
It is also furnished with a Broad wood piano, a Mason & Hamlin 
organ, and a well-stocked library. A broad, airy corridor, lighted and 
ventilated by skylights at frequent intervals, leads from the music- 
room aft, on either side of which are state-rooms elegantly and com- 
fortably fitted up, having two berths and a sofa in each. Descending 
from the music-room by a broad staircase, the dining-saloon is reached. 
The port-holes of this saloon are hid by window-frames with stained 
glass, and the carpets, curtains, and other accessories display the taste 
and elegance which are everywhere evinced. 

The dining-saloon is heated by steam, furnished from two Balti- 
more heaters fitted into white marble mantels. A corridor, similar to 
that on the spar-deck, stretches from the main saloon aft, giving access 
on. both sides to state-rooms, which are each fitted for the accommoda- 
tion of four persons. There are two state-cabins furnished with special 
magnificence, which, in place of the ordinary berths elsewhere pro- 
vided, are supplied with Parisian electro-plated bedsteads. 

1857. — The North German Lloyd Steamship Company was 
founded by a number of enterprising business men of the ancient and 



366 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

wealthy city of Bremen, a city belonging to the so-called Hansa-Bund, 
or commercial confederation of German free cities, whose merchants in 
the thirteenth century sent their ships oat over the German Ocean and up 
the Baltic, and gave the first incentive to the trade of northern Europe, 
which they controlled for centuries. True to the traditions of their 
forefathers, the inaugurators of this new line of communication with 
the Western Hemisphere determined to offer to the public in place of 
the slow and uncertain sailing-vessels, by which all living and dead 
freight had been forwarded from the port of Bremen, a quick, safe, 
and commodious fleet of steamers. 

The founders of the line were sensible that, in order to succeed in 
the new undertaking, it would be necessary to conduct the manage- 
ment with a jealous regard for the comfort, safety, and well-being of 
the passengers. They had to contend with the prejudice of many who 
were unable to comprehend the grand revolution in ocean transporta- 
tion taking place, and who would not intrust their lives or goods on 
these new-fangled arrangements driven by steam and moved by com- 
plicated machinery, liable, as they believed, to continual derangement. 
Founded on the maxim that that company serves its own interest best 
that serves the public best, the line, in spite of the opposition of early 
years and the eager competition of later days, grew and prospered. 
Up to December, 1878, the steamers of this company had made two 
thousand five hundred and fourteen voyages across the Atlantic, and 
carried more than six hundred and eighty thousand persons over the 
ocean. Of this number more than one hundred and eight thousand 
were cabin passengers, all of whom were conducted safely and well 
over its stormy sea. This is a record few steamship lines can equal, 
and that hardly any can excel. 

The transatlantic steamers of this line, thirty in number, except 
four built on the Humber, were all built on the Clyde. They are iron 
screw steamers with flush decks, built according to the English Lloyd 
rule. Their length on an average is 360 feet ; breadth of beam, 40 
feet ; and depth, 32 feet, the length being about nine times the breadth. 
Tonnage, about 3500 tons. They are provided with iron decks, and 
seven water-tight compartments. Their draught without cargo is 17 
feet, and with cargo 21 feet. They are brig-rigged, spreading 14,000 
square i^Qi of sail, carry ten iron life-boats, 28 feet long, and the other 
usual appliances for saving life. The engines of nearly all of these 
ships are of the compound type. The screws are of iron, with four 
blades about 15 feet in diameter, and with a pitch of about 24 feet. 
The large steamers have twelve main boilers, with two furnaces and 
one auxiliary, and the average speed of the mail steamers, — viz., 
'' Neckar," " Oder,'' " Mosel/' '^Rhein,'' " Main,'' '' Donau," '' Weser," 
and " America," — plying between Bremen and New York, is stated as 
fourteen and one-half knots per hour. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 367 

A new steamer, called the ^^ Elbe/^ has been built on the Clyde 
and placed on the line between Bremen, Southampton, and New York. 

The " Elbe" is of 5000 tons measurement, and her dimensions 
are 420 feet in length by 45 feet breadth of beam, and 40 feet depth 
of hold. She is provided with seven water-tight compartments, and 
fitted with four masts, the fore- and mainmasts square-rigged, and the 
two mizzen-masts schooner-rigged. The upper-deck fore and aft is 
covered over. She has a hurricane- deck amidships 180 feet long, as a 
promenade-deck for first-cabin passengers, on which the ladies' cabin 
is placed near the mainmast. 

The " Elbe" has the most approved steam steering-gear, operated 
from the wheel-house, which is placed under the bridge and at the 
forward end of the hurricane-deck. 

Her engines are of 6000 horse-power, indicated, and consist of 
three cylinders, the high-pressure of 60 inches diameter, and the two 
low-pressure of 85 inches diameter each, and guaranteed to obtain a 
speed of sixteen knots an hour. The crew is 160 all told. 

The '' Mosel," from Southampton for New York, went on shore 
near the Lizard in a thick fog and calm, August 9, 1882, and became 
a total loss, breaking up about September 4. Her six or seven hun- 
dred passengers and the mails were landed by the steamer '' Rosetta," 
of Falmouth. Her dimensions were: Length, 365 feet; beam, 40 
feet ; depth of hold, 35 feet. Her gross tonnage was 3500, and her 
bankers carried 1000 tons of coal. She was full brig-rigged, had 
eight metallic life-boats and two gigs, and her decks were of East 
India teak. Her original machinery was powerful and fine, consisting 
of inverted direct-acting engines of 800 horse-power, nominal, with 
the capacity of working up to 2500. She had two cylinders, 72 inches 
in diameter, with 5 feet stroke. The boilers were six in number, with 
four furnaces to each. The " Mosel" was finely furnished throughout, 
and could accommodate 90 first-class, 126 second-class, and 680 steerage 
passengers, and she cost a little over $500,000. She was valued at 
$425,000. In September, 1881, she was repaired and refitted at an 
expense of $125,000. Her hurricane-decks and turtle-backs were re- 
newed, and the second cabin was removed to the main-deck forward. 
New engines were placed in her, greatly exceeding in power her old 
ones. In 1875 a memorable crime was committed by a passenger on 
the " MoseP' while she was lying in Bremerhaven. A case of dyna- 
mite was exploded on the wharf, sixty-eight persons being killed and 
thirty-three severely wounded. The vessel was but little injured. 
The author of the catastrophe, W. H. Thomassen, who had been a 
blockade-runner during the American rebellion, but had latterly lived 
in Germany, was tried and legally put to death. 

The Leyland Line. — This line has a large fleet, all of which, 
except the Boston steamships, run to Mediterranean ports, for which 



368 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

there are four departures a week. The steamers of this line bear 
names ending with the letter " n," and have the further peculiarity of 
being ranged in classes according to the letters with which their names 
begin, the names of sister ships always beginning with the same letter. 
Thus, the steamers of the Boston service are always spoken of as the 
^^BV and the '^^s,''— the ^^ Bavarian," the ^' Batavian," and the 
*^ Bohemian," and the ^' Tstrien," the ^^ Illyrien," and the " Iberien." 

The ^' Flavian," repaired in Boston, replaced the ^^ Bohemian," 
lost, in the Boston service of the company. The disaster which over- 
took her obliged the giving up temporarily of a projected line to Balti- 
more. She is different from the regular boats of the line running to 
Boston, being smaller and shorter than the large four-masters, of 
lighter draught, and of greater beam in proportion to her length, 
which is 335 feet. She has only two masts. Her tonnage is about 
1400 by measurement. She is finely fitted, and has comfortable quar- 
ters for of&cers and crew. She was built at Jarrow-on-Tyne, a name 
hardly known this side of the Atlantic, but which has the greatest iron 
ship-building yard in the world. It employs seven thousand men, and 
everything is done on the premises. The iron is taken from the com- 
pany's mines three miles up the river, enters the yard as crude ore, and 
leaves it a complete steamship. The coal is mined in the yard. At 
Jarrow there are three monster steamers building specially for the 
Boston service of the Leyland Line, and they will probably begin run- 
ning in the autumn of 1882. Two are called the " Virginian" and the 
" Valencian ;" the third will have a name beginning with V. The three 
" Y's" will be steamers of 5000 tons and about 500 feet long, much 
larger than any of the present boats, but resembling them in build. 

The steamer '' Bohemian" was wrecked in Dunlough Bay, February 
6, 1881. She sailed from Boston on January 27, 1881, for Liverpool, 
and went ashore on the Irish coast during a dreadful storm. Thirty- 
two of those on board were drowned, and twenty-one of the crew, 
including the second officer, were saved. Another survivor was seen 
on a rock, separated from the mainland, but all efforts to rescue him 
failed. Two life-boats were capsized in the attempt. 

The ^' Bohemian" was fifteen years old, and had been on the Ley- 
land Line five years. 

1862. — The Compagnie GfeN:6RALE Transatlantique. — This 
company, established in 1862, maintains a regular line between Havre 
and New York. It receives a subsidy from the French government for 
its West India and New York and Havre lines ; other independent 
services are not subsidized. In 1880 a contract was entered into be- 
tween the company and the French government for its line between 
Marseilles, Algerian, and Tunisian ports, and a small subsidy granted. 

The company has lately added to its lines a new weekly line from 
Marseilles to Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Messina, Syracuse, Malta, etc. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



369 



The followiog table shows the fleet of the company, 1881 



FOR THE ATLAXTIC. 



Amerique . . 
France . . . 
Labrador . . 
Canada . . . 
Saint-Germain 
Pereire . . . 
Saint-Laurent 
Yille de Paris 
Lafayette . . 
Washington , . , 
Olinde-Kodrigues 
Saint-Simon . . . 
Ferdinand de Les 



Tonnage. Horse-power. 



Yille de Marseille 
Yille de Bordeaux 
Yille de Brest . 
Yille de Saint-Na 

Zaire 

Colombie . . . 
Caldera .... 



4500 


900 


4500 


900 


4500 


900 


4500 


900 


3650 


850 


3300 


900 


3400 


9.00 


3300 


900 


3400 


800 


3400 


800 


3000 


660 


3000 


660 



3000 
3000 
2600 
2600 

2600 
2800 
2800 



660 
660 
660 
660 

660 
660 
660 



Tonnage. Horse-power. 



Salvador . . . 
Saint-Domingu 
Yenezuela 
Alice . . 
Caravelle 
Colomba . 
Caraibe . 



Belle Isle . 



900 
800 
800 
800 
700 
600 
600 



150 



TRAXSPORT STEAMERS. 



Bixio . . . 
Plachat . . 
Le Chatelier 
Pournel . . 
Clapeyron . 
Provincia . 
Martinique . 
Picardie . . 



250 
250 
250 
100 
250 
200 
125 



100 



2280 


250 


2280 


250 


2227 


250 


2000 


250 


1760 


180 


1700 


180 


1600 


200 


1500 


200 



FOE THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



Moise 

Saint-Augustin . . 
Isaac Pereire . . . 
Abd-el-Kader . . 
Charles-Quint . . 
Yille de Madrid . 
Yille de Barcelone 

Kleber 

Yille d'Oran . . . 
Yille de Bone . . 

Afrique 

Ajaccio 

Bastia 

Corse 

Immaculee-Concep- 

tion 

Lou-Cettori . . . 
Marechal Canrobert 



Tonnage. 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

1800 

800 

800 

800 

800 

800 
800 
800 



Horse-power. 
450 
450 
450 
450 
450 
450 
450 
450 
450 
450 
250 
250 
250 
250 

250 
250 
250 



Tonnage. Horse-power. 



Mohammed - el - Sa- 

deck 800 

Malvina 800 

Manoubia .... 600 
Yille de Tanger . 600 

Dragut 500 

Mustapha - ben - Is- 
mail 500 

La Yalette .... 500 
Insulaire 400 

RESERVES. 

Guadeloupe . . . 1600 

Desirade 1400 

SHIPS BUILDING. 

Yille de Kome . . 1800 

Yille de Naples . . 1800 

Yille delSIew York . . 



250 
250 
200 
200 
150 

150 
150 
150 

400 
400 



450 
450 



The " Ville de !N^ew York/' now building at Barrow-in-Furness 
for the company, is to be the largest steamship that has entered the 
port of Havre. According to the plans, her length between perpen- 
diculars will be 460 feet ; depth of hold, from bottom of keel to spar- 
deck, 37 feet 6 inches. Her beam is to be proportioned with her 
draught, which cannot exceed 23 feet in depth on account of the bar 
or entrance on the river Seine, and its breadth is to be fifty feet. In 

26 



^ 



370 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

her length she is to be divided into ten water-tight compartments, two 
of which will be occupied by the boilers, which can be separated in 
case of emergency. One-half of the boiler-power can be used with- 
out stopping the vessel, and will give a speed of almost eleven knots. 
A water-tight bottom, which is to extend her whole length, can also be 
used for ballasting the vessel and giving her uniform draught, and a 
system of pumps worked by steam will insure her speedy and ade- 
quate drainage. The " Yille de New York^^ will have four masts and 
two smoke-stacks. She will have all the latest improvements and most 
recently devised accommodations. 

There are to be four decks and a promenade-deck extending along- 
side on top of the main-deck, and supported forward by stanchions. 
This one will be entirely reserved for the first- and second-class passen- 
gers. No sailors will be permitted on it, as all their work will be done 
on the deck below, which is also to be used by the third-class passengers. 
Forward and aft on the promenade-deck there are to be two turrets, 
which will contain the signal-fire and the double foot-bridge for the 
officers on watch. The pilot-house, which is to be fitted with steam 
stearing-gear, and the captain's house will be located here too. The 
arrangements for the crew will be such that every department will do 
its work without interfering with the passengers. The officers^ rooms 
will be situated forward under cover, so as to be convenient to the 
bridge, where they have to be on watch, and the engineers' berths are 
to be arranged around the engine-room, so that they may not be obliged 
to go on deck. 

The first-class passengers' saloon and cabins will be in the centre 
of the vessel, forward of the machinery, where the pitching is felt least. 
Twenty-four of the cabins will contain single berths, and have sky- 
lights for admitting air in all weathers. All will be lighted by means 
of electricity. The second-class passengers are to be located aft of the 
machinery, and third-class at the end of the first-class cabins, between 
decks. Splendidly furnished dining-rooms, saloons, and reading-rooms 
will form one of the vessel's attractions, and there will be a system of 
baths and all arrangements likely to contribute to comfort. 

The machinery will be compound, with cylinders set one above the 
other. Each of the three compound engines will have its own crank- 
shaft and condenser. The air and circulating pumps will be inde- 
pendent. The six cylinders will have a stroke of 5 feet 7 inches. The 
diameter of high-pressure cylinders will be 35J inches, and that of the 
low-pressure cylinders 75 inches. The whole condensing surface will 
be 10,300 iQQi, and every one of the circulating pumps will be able to 
supply at full speed 250 gallons of water per second. 

The boilers supplying the steam to the main engine will have in all 
36 furnaces, with a fire surface of 21,600 square feet ; besides, there 
will be a large donkey boiler, with two furnaces having 550 square 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 371 

feet of fire surface^ for supplying steam to the hoisting engines, donkey- 
pumps^ and other steam apparatus. The main boilers will carry a 
steam-pressure of 90 pounds per square inch, and the power of the 
engines, it is claimed, can be estimated at 7000 horse-power on trial, 
giving a speed of 16 J knots. 

1863. — The National Steamship Company. — The year in 
which this line, between Boston, Xew York, and Liverpool, was started 
was a most unpromising one for the inauguration of such a commercial 
enterprise, as it was the year in which commercial men in thel^orthern 
States were distracted with apprehensions for the future of the Union, 
and when trade, except in war material, was practically at a stand-still. 
Such was the period, however, chosen by a little knot of far-seeing 
commercial men in Liverpool for commencing the operations of the 
National Steamship Company. They have been more than justified 
by the result, and their success is at once a testimony to their pluck 
and commercial foresight. 

The National Steamship Company was the first and for some years 
the only steamship company trading across the Atlantic between Liver- 
pool and the United States established upon the principle of a limited 
activity, that is, to maintain the reputation of its steamers for safety 
and such expedition on the voyage as is consistent with safe navigation. 
And as an additional guarantee for safety, the company takes upon 
itself the entire insurance of each of its steamers, and a considerable 
sum per annum is distributed between the captain and officers of each 
steamer, as a bonus, provided that their vessel is navigated free of 
accident. The efficacy of these regulations is proved by the fact that, 
although the National Line has carried nearly 650,000 passengers, not 
a single passenger has been lost from accident of the seas, and though 
it was started with a capital of £700,000, in one of its recent years its 
gross earnings exceeded that amount, and it has not only paid good 
dividends during the years of its existence, but has accumulated an 
insurance fund of over £200,000, while its property in 1877 was valued 
at £1,200,000, and must now have increased to more than double the 
original capital. From the start the directors had to face the fact that 
it could expect no assistance from mail subsidies, and that it had to 
compete with formidable rivals. It was necessary, therefore, that it 
should strike out a line for itself, and it was decided that the line 
should consist of ships not built for great speed, but capable of carry- 
ing large cargoes without interfering with comfortable arrangements 
for passengers. This was the model adopted, and experience has shown 
that the policy of the company was a wise one. The result is that 
to-day the vessels of the National Company are among the largest 
engaged in the transatlantic traffic. 

The company commenced its operations in 1863 with three of the 
largest vessels then afloat, viz., the iron screw steamships " Louisiana," 



1 



372 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



<^ YirgiDia," and " Pennsylvania" respectively, of a gross tonnage, one 
of 8000 and two of 3500 tons each. The following year the fleet was 
increased to six vessels by the addition of the ^' Erin'^ the ^' Queen," 
and the " Helvetia," each of a larger tonnage than the pioneer vessels, 
with which number a weekly service was commenced. After two 
years' trading this fleet proved insufficient, and two other vessels — the 
'' England," of 4900 tons and 600 horte-power, and the " Denmark," 
of 3724 tons and 350 horse-power — was added to the line in 1865. 
In 1868 the '^taly," of 4169 tons and 500 horse-power, built and 
engined by Messrs. John Elder, of Glasgow, became one of the Na- 
tional liners. It should be mentioned that the '^ Italy" was the first 
Atlantic steamship in which engines upon the compound principle were 
used. In 1869 the ^' Holland," of 3847 tons and 350 horse-power, 
was added to the line. The company signalized its increasing pros- 
perity in the year 1871 by adding to the line two of the largest steam- 
ships then afloat (the '^ Great Eastern" excepted) in the "Egypt," of 
4670 tons, and the " Spain," of 4512 tons. The " Egypt" is 455 feet 
long and 44 feet beam, and the ''Spain" 440 feet long and 43 feet 
beam. Each of these vessels has frequently made the passage from 
Queenstown to Sandy Hook in nine days. In 1872 the ''Canada," of 
4276 tons, and the " Greece," of 4310 tons, were added to the line. 
At the present time (1882) its fleet consists of the following vessels : 



Name. 



Spain . . 
Egypt . 
England 
The Queen 
Helvetia 
Erin . . 



Built. 


H. P. 


Tons. 


1871 


600 


4871 


1871 


600 


6089 


1865 


600 


4900 


1864 


450 


4471 


1864 


500 


4588 


1864 


500 


4577 



Name. 



Canada . . 
Greece . . 
France . . 
Holland . 
Denmark . 
Italy . . . 



Built. 


H.P. 


1872 


450 


1872 


450 


1866 


450 


1869 


350 


1865 


350 


1868 


500 



Tons. 

4276 
4310 
4281 
3847 
3724 
4341 



Comprising twelve of the largest steamers (belonging to one com- 
pany) in the Atlantic passenger service, capable of accommodating 
1200 cabin and 15,000 steerage passengers. With this fleet a weekly 
service is maintained, one vessel starting from Liverpool every Wednes- 
day and another for New York every Saturday. In addition there 
is a special weekly service maintained between London and New York, 
in which six vessels of the company are engaged. 

At the outbreak of the Abyssinian campaign the " England" and 
the " Queen" were chartered by the government as transports., and con- 
tinued in service until the close of the campaign. They made the 
shortest run of any of the transports between Liverpool and Bombay, 
and the "Queen" steamed home from Bombay to Liverpool, by way 
of the Cape of Good Hope, in forty-nine days, which was claimed as 
the shortest time ever made by that route. 



HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION, 373 

Four of the company's steamships — the "Egypt/' the "Spain," 
the "England," and the " France" — were engaged in the year 1879 to 
convey troops to South Africa, and the present year the " Holland," 
the "France," the "Italy," and the "Greece" were employed to take 
troops to Egypt. The " Holland" sailed from London on the 1st of 
August with a portion of the Household cavalry, and by special re- 
quest of Her Majesty passed inside the Isle of Wight, and she was 
visited by the Prince and Princess of AVales and their daughters, who 
boarded her from the Royal yacht " Osborne." 

On the 9th the " Greece," commanded by Captain W. Pearce, sailed 
from Southampton, having had the honor of receiving four royal visits 
during the day. She had on board 246 horses and about 300 officers 
and men of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Pope. The first distinguished visitor to arrive on board 
the steamer was Prince Edward of Saxe- Weimar, who, with his suite, 
made a careful inspection of the vessel and the arrangements for the 
accommodation of the troops, and expressed themselves highly satisfied. 
Shortly afterwards his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge and 
suite paid a visit to the " Greece," and after a thoroughly official ex- 
amination of the provision made for the officers, men, and horses, ex- 
pressed the greatest satisfaction. About three o'clock in the afternoon 
the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by the three princesses, 
Louise, Victoria, and Maud, and the two royal middies. Prince Albert 
Victor and Prince George of Wales (just returned from their two 
years' cruise round the world), and Miss Knollys, went on board the 
" Greece," inspecting with much interest every portion of the fine 
vessel, their examination even extending to the lower decks of the 
vessel, where the horses are carried. The Princess of Wales was most 
particular in examining minutely all the fitting and accommodation for 
the men and horses, and was especially enthusiastic in her commenda- 
tion of the arrangements of the vessel. Immediately after their de- 
parture the royal yacht ^^ Alberta" was sighted, and Her Majesty the 
queen, arriving from Osborne House, accompanied by the Princess 
Beatrice, the Duchess of Connaught, and attended by several ladies, 
was received on board the " Greece" by Admiral Ryder and Captain 
Brookes. The queen, who evinced the liveliest interest in the fitting 
out of the transport, was much pleased with her visit, and before Her 
Majesty left the steamer, several officers who were going on active 
service in the East were presented to her in the saloon. 

The steamships of this line have been constructed by the most 
celebrated builders in Great Britain, and are of great strength and 
power and of beautiful model, enabling them to make regular passages 
in all kinds of weather. They are built entirely of iron and steel 
(except the merely decorative parts), and divided into water-tight and 
fire-proof compartments, with steam pumping, hoisting, and steering- 



374 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. ' 

gear, and provided with fire-extinguishers, improved sounding appa- 
ratus, and generally found throughout in everything calculated to add 
to their safety, and to the comfort and convenience of passengers, here- 
tofore unattained at sea. 

The saloons are some of them one hundred and fifty feet in lengthy 
and are particularly well lighted and ventilated. The state-rooms, all 
on the main-deck, are exceptionally large, light, and airy, and are 
furnished throughout with every requisite to make the ocean passage a 
comfortable and easy one. Pianos, ladies' saloons, both on deck and 
below, gentlemen's smoking-room, and ladies' and gentlemen's bath- 
rooms, are provided. The cuisine is of the very highest order. 

Special attention has been given in the construction of the steamers 
to provide for the comfort of steerage passengers, the accommodation 
being unsurpassed for airiness and room, light, good ventilation, and 
general arrangements. 

The steamers have covered-in decks over their whole length, allow- 
ing passengers in good weather an unobstructed length of promenade, 
and affording in bad weather a complete protection from wet and ex- 
posure, while allowing spacious room for exercise. The deck space is 
over four hundred feet in length, and from forty-two to forty-five feet 
wide. 

The sleeping apartments are well lighted, warmed, and comfortable, 
the height between decks being greater than in most steamers. Mar- 
ried couples, with their young children, are berthed by themselves; 
single men and women in separate rooms, apart from each other. 
During the day all can associate together and mess at the same table. 
Stewardesses are in attendance on women and children. Medicine and 
medical attendance free to every passenger. 

From the beginning of its operations it has been the settled practice 
of the company to make the safety of the passengers its first considera- 
tion, and the speed of the passage the second. It is the uniform prac- 
tice of the managers to require from each captain a sailing chart, show- 
ing his course out and home, the instructions being that he is never to 
go higher than a certain line of latitude with the idea of getting a 
shorter sailing line. These charts are regularly examined and filed. 
The articles in the Company's Book of Instructions on these matters are 
as follows : ^^ During the ice months, that is to say, from the 1st of Feb- 
ruary until the 31st of August, inclusive, the commanders will shape 
their courses so far south as will in their judgments avoid danger from 
field icebergs. Between the above dates they are not to cross the 
region of the banks higher than 43° north latitude on the outward 
passages (easterly), and not higher than 42° north latitude on the 
homeward (westerly) passages. From the 1st of September until the 
31st of January, inclusive, the banks are to be crossed at a safe dis- 
tance south of the Virgin Rocks. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 375 

" The commanders, while using every diligence to secure a speedy- 
voyage, are prohibited from running any risk whatever that might 
result in accident to their ships. They must ever bear in mind that 
the safety of the ships and the lives and property on board is to be the 
ruling principle that shall govern them in the navigation of their ships, 
and no supposed gain in expedition or saving of time on the voyage is 
to be purchased at the risk of accidents. The company desires to 
establish and maintain the reputation of the steamers for safety, and 
expect such expedition on their voyage as is consistent with safe 
navigation." 

From the soundness of the positions it has taken and the policy it 
has pursued, it is not too much to prophesy from its past an equally 
prosperous future. 

1866. — The Williams & Guion Line.— This line was established 
in August, 1866. It was originally the Black Star Line of packet- 
ships, which were run from Liverpool to New York for twenty-four 
years, carrying some sixty thousand passengers yearly, and never losing 
a ship or a life by accident. From 1866, when the steamship line was 
established, to 1873 the line run six steamers, each making eight round 
trips per year, carrying, on an average, six hundred passengers to New 
York and one hundred from New York each trip, making seven hun- 
dred passengers per round trip, or a total per year of thirty-three 
thousand six hundred, and a grand total of passengers, between 1866 
and 1873, of fully two hundred and fifty thousand. In January, 
1868, the ^' Chicago,'^ of this line, ran ashore near Queenstown and 
became a total wreck, all hands being saved. Since then the '^ Colo- 
rado'^ was run into in the Mersey, and six passengers jumped over- 
board and were drowned. All the others were saved. 

In August, 1866, the iron screw steamer '^ Manhattan'^ sailed from 
Liverpool for New York, being the pioneer of the company^s new fleet. 
The ''Minnesota," "Nebraska," "Colorado," "Idaho," "Nevada," 
" Wisconsin," and " Wyoming," named for the States and Territories 
of the Union, each of about three thousand tons, and built of iron 
specially for the line, followed in rapid succession. In 1878 the 
"Montana," of three thousand five hundred tons, Avas added, and in 
1874 the "Dakota," a sister ship. The incorporate name of the com- 
pany is the "Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Company," but 
it is best known as the " Guion Line." 

The "Alaska," the latest addition to the Guion Line, arrived in 
New York on her first trip after a prolonged and stormy passage, 
having left Queenstown Tuesday, November 1, during a severe storm, 
which during the night turned into a complete hurricane. The steam 
steering-gear gave w^ay, as also did the hand-gear, which compelled 
a stop for ten hours to repair the damage. The next day a small 
steam-pipe broke, which filled the engine-room with steam and obliged 



376 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

the engineers to leave their posts and put out the fires. It was only 
a water-pipe used to lessen the noise of escaping steam, but it caused 
great inconvenience and obliged them to work up to sixty-five pounds 
of steam only, when the vessel is capable of working under one hun- 
dred. An average of sixteen knots an hour was made, but it is 
expected the "Alaska'^ will make regularly eighteen and one-half 
knots an hour and record four hundred and forty miles a day. She 
made four hundred and two miles one day with only sixty-five pounds 
of steam. 

Mr. Guion, accompanied by a number of personal friends and 
members of the press, went down the bay in a special tender to meet 
the steamship. When the tender was off Staten Island the huge ship 
was sighted steaming through the Narrows decked gayly with flags, 
floating the national ensign at the fore and the flag of the royal naval 
reserve at the stern. When ofi* quarantine the "Alaska'' dropped her 
anchor, and the health-officer, with those who had gone down to inspect 
her, went on board. 

As the vessel lay at anchor in the stream she presented a fine 
appearance, but only when on board of lier could one get an idea of 
her size. The principal dimensions of the " Alaska" are : Length, 
526 feet; breadth, 50 feet 6 inches; depth, 40 feet 7 inches to upper- 
deck, or 48 feet 7 inches to promenade-deck. Her gross tonnage is 
8000 tons. The engines are of the compound inverted, direct-acting, 
three-cylinder type, the high-pressure cylinder 68-inch diameter, and 
the two-ton pressure cylinders 100 inches diameter each, with a stroke 
of 6 feet. Steam is supplied by boilers of the usual cylindrical form 
at a pressure of 100 pounds. The indicated horse-power is about 1000. 

The " Alaska'' has two smoke-stacks and four masts, bark-rigged. 
There are altogether seven decks. The first, or promenade-deck, 
extends the whole length and breadth of the vessel, excepting the 
parts in the bow and stern forming the " turtle." The second deck is 
an open one. Along the sides of the vessel and along the middle are the 
quarters for the officers and engineers, and a number of state-rooms 
for intermediate passengers. In the third, or main-deck, accommo- 
dations are provided for three hundred and forty first-class, sixty 
second-class, and one hundred and eighteen steerage passengers. This 
deck, amidships, is taken up entirely by the state-rooms and dining- 
saloons for first-class passengers. The entrance to the main saloon 
is by a spacious stairway from the second deck, and is handsomely 
arranged. The main saloon is 50 feet wide and 64 feet long, and has 
a seating capacity for 280 people. The ceiling is 9 feet high, but a 
cupola of stained glass, 23 feet long and 15 feet wide, makes the centre 
of the main saloon 20 feet high. The sides of the saloon are finished 
in hard woods, with panels of maple, teak, satin, and oak inlaid. The 
upholstery is in blue Utrecht velvet. Near the saloon is the ladies' 



HISTORY OF J^TEAM NAVIGATION. 377 

cabin, upholstered with rich brocaded tapestry, with sofas well arranged 
for comfort and ease. Communicating with this room are the ladies' 
bath-rooms, which are complete in every particular. The smoking- 
room is 28 feet wide and 24 feet long. It is floored in parquetry. 
There are four bath-rooms on the main-deck, as well as lavatories at 
convenient places. The fourth deck is devoted to steerage passengers, 
and will accommodate one thousand persons. The fifth deck is used 
entirely for cargo. The " Alaska'' is fitted with steam- wind lass, steam 
steering-gear, steam-winches, and all the most improved appliances for 
navigation and for promoting the comfort of the passengers. There 
are electric bells communicating with the chief steward's office through- 
out the ship, and she is fitted with Swan's electric lights. 

1867. — The Old Dominion Steamship Company succeeded the 
New York and Virginia Steamship Company, which ran the route 
previous to the Civil War. 

The service of the Old Dominion Steamship Company now em- 
braces the following lines of passenger travel : Main Line — New York 
to Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Petersburg, and Richmond, 
Virginia. Norfolk Division — Norfolk to Old Point Comfort (Fortress 
Monroe), Hampton, Newport News, Smithfield, Yorktown, Matthews, 
Gloucester, and Cherrystone, Virginia. North Carolina Division — 
Elizabeth City to ^yashington, South Creek, Makeley's, Newberne, 
and Riverdale, North Carolina ; Washington, North Carolina, to 
Greenville and Tarboro, North Carolina, etc. Delaware Division — 
New York to Lewes, Delaware ; Franklin City, Virginia, to Chinco- 
teague, Virginia, etc. West Point Division — New York to West 
Point, Virginia; freight only. 

The line commenced with three steamers of less than 3000 tons 
burden combined. The following named are its present fleet : 

The " Roanoke," iron propeller, freight and passengers, 2354 tons. 
New York. 

The " Guyandotte," iron propeller, of the same class and build as 
the " Roanoke." 

The '^ Old Dominion," iron side-wheel steamship, freight and pas- 
sengers, 2222 tons. 

The " Wyanoke," iron side-wheel steamship, freight and passengers, 
2068 tons. 

The "Richmond," iron propeller, freight and passengers, 1436 
tons. 

The " Manhattan," iron propeller, freight and passengers, 1400 
tons. 

The "Breakwater," iron propeller, freight and passengers, 1110 
tons. 

The " Rapidau," wooden side-wheel, freight, 868 tons. 

Steamer "Widgeon," Swift, master. 



378 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

Steamer ^* TraDsfer/^ 

The ^' Northampton/^ wooden side-wheel, freight and passengers, 
600 tons. 

The " Accomack/' wooden side- wheel, freight and passengers, 434 
tons. 

The " Shenandoah/' wooden side-wheel. 

The " Luray,'' wooden side- wheel. 

The " Newberne,'' iron propeller, freight and passengers, 400 tons. 

The " Pamlico/' wooden propeller, 252 tons. 

And about 2000 tons in barges, propellers, lighters, etc., or about 
20,000 tons in all. 

The passenger accommodations of the Old Dominion steamships are 
of the most comfortable and superb character; the saloons are substan- 
tially and elegantly furnished, the tables well supplied, and in fact they 
are wanting in nothing calculated to make a trip upon them desirable 
and pleasant. During the company's career of fifteen years not a sin- 
gle life intrusted to its care has been lost. Through the worst storms 
and series of marine disasters these steamships have always passed in 
perfect safety. 

The movement of freights northward by this line consists of the 
products of mine, field, and forest, — ores, marble, granite, logs, lumber, 
and their products, cotton, tobacco, rice, peanuts, and every variety of 
produce, fish, oysters, etc. 

South-bound, all kinds of merchandise. 

Besides points immediately reached by steamers, intimate rail con- 
nections exist with all parts of the South, Southwest, and West, and 
freights and passengers transferred to and from the same. 

An almost daily line is maintained. During August, 1882, forty- 
five arrivals of this company's boats were entered in New York. They 
probably handle, agents of the company say, as great a volume of 
business in tons as any other company, either foreign or domestic, in 
this country. 

The " Roanoke/' and the ^' Guyandotte," of 1355 tons each, built 
at Roach's ship-yard, Chester, Pennsylvania, are two iron screw steam- 
ships of a very superior character. The dimensions are : Length, 270 
feet ; breadth of beam, 41 feet ; depth of hold from base line, 2(3 feet, 
9 inches. The steamers were built under the special inspection and in 
accordance with the rule of the American Shipmasters' Association, 
and are classed for twenty years in the ^' Record of American Shipping." 
They are supplied with water-tight bulkheads, and have every appli- 
ance for the safety and comfort of passengers. There are three decks 
and a hurricane-deck. Excellent accommodations are supplied for 100 
cabin passengers, state-rooms for which are of large size and elegantly 
upholstered and appointed, having all modern conveniences. The 
saloons are finished in a choice variety of hard woods, and handsomely 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 37& 

upholstered and furnished. Thorough ventilation is supplied, and 
everything done which experience can suggest to make these steamships 
among the best in the coasting trade. Thev have compound engines, 
the high-pressure cylinders being 38 inches in diameter, and the low- 
pressure 74 inches. The length of stroke of the piston is 4J feet. 
Four steel boilers, 13 feet in diameter, 12 feet long, and tested to carry 
90 pounds of steam, insure a good rate of speed. 

1870. — The White Star Line. — The White Star Line was- 
originally composed of a fleet of fast-sailing American clipper-ships,- 
by the " Champion of the Seas,'^ '' Blue Jacket,^^ '' White Star,^' 
" Shalimar," etc., sailing to Australia. To this line Messrs. Imray & 
Co. succeeded, and still carry it on with fast vessels, built of iron. 

In 1870 the establishment of the line of steamships taking this 
name was claimed as a new departure in ocean steamship management. 
The ships of the line differed in model, internal arrangements, and 
equipment from all their predecessors. They were designed to combine 
the highest speed with unprecedented comfort and convenience for 
passengers. 

Xautical critics are conservative, and look with great distrust upon 
marked innovations in naval construction, and these vessels were the 
subject of unfavorable comments. They might do for summer passages,- 
but doubts were expressed whether they would endure the test of a 
North Atlantic winter. It was an innovation that the vessels of the 
line should be built at Belfast instead of upon the Clyde, the stipula- 
tion being that the ships were to be constructed of strength, size, and 
power to equal, if not surpass, anything upon the Mersey. The- 
builders were not limited by contract, but left to fulfill the general in- 
structions given. When the first vessels of the line were brought to 
Liverpool from Belfast they created a ^^ sensation,^' and became the 
subject of comment and observation. Events have proved that the 
builders reached a high degree of speed and safety, and that no steam- 
ships have been better able to cope with the winter storms of the 
Atlantic. For ten years, in winter as in summer, the steamships of 
the White Star Line have lived down adverse criticism. The best 
evidence of the value of the improvements introduced by the White 
Star Company is that they have been adopted by rival lines. The- 
White Star steamers range from 3700 to 5000 tons, and are among the- 
largest in the world. They are built with regard to strength no less 
than speed, and constructed on the floating-tube principle, with seven 
water-tight and fire-proof iron bulkheads. They are steered by steam,, 
and have the principal saloon and state-rooms amidships. A complete 
inspection by the commanding officer is made before every voyage, 
when the men are put through a boat-service drill and a drill in defense 
of fire, which is repeated once or twice at sea on each voyage. The 
discipline is as pronounced as on board ships of the royal navy. From 



380 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

February to July, when the ice is drifting with the Gulf Stream, the 
White Star vessels are navigated by a southerly track, and vice versa 
from August to January. When the ice has drifted, and the northern 
parallels are clear of ice and fog, the boats take the northern track. 

The average passages of the steamships of the White Star Line, 
both ways between Queenstown and New York, have been under nine 
days, and many passages have been under eight days. In July, 1875, 
the " Germania'' made the passage from Queenstown to New York in 
7 days, 23 hours, 7 minutes, and the return passage in August in 7 
days, 22 hours, 8 minutes. The ^' Adriatic'^ and the '^ Baltic'^ have 
made passages under eight days, and in February, 1876, the^Ger- 
mania" eclipsed herself and all other vessels of the line by steaming 
from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in 7 days, 15 hours, 17 minutes, 
having traversed 2894 knots, equal to 15.8 knots per hour for the 
entire passage. In 1877 the '' Germania'^ made the passage in 7 days, 
11 hours, 27 minutes. The "Britannia'^ made the passage in 7 days, 
10 hours, 53 minutes. 

A passenger describing these vessels says of them : 

'' In their internal arrangements the White Star ships are even 
more strikingly a ' new departure' in steamship architecture than in 
their model. The main saloon, instead of being at the stern, and 
hemmed in by state-rooms, making a long, narrow, badly-lighted apart- 
ment, is placed in the very middle of the vessel, and extends from side 
to side, forming a grand hall 75 feet long and 45 feet wide, lighted not 
only by the ample skylights but by large windows at the sides. A 
broad staircase, well lighted by night and day, leads to the saloon, 
where there is ample room for dining two hundred persons, giving to 
each diner his or her own seat, not of undefined capacity on a settee, 
but a chair with revolving seat, which is kept at every meal for the 
passenger to whom it is allotted at the commencement of the voyage, 
and can be approached at any time during the progress of the meals 
without disturbing the others. There is nothing to indicate that you 
are on shipboard; indeed, there is every appearance of hotel life of the 
most elegant and comfortable style, including even an open marble fire- 
place, which substitutes the customary stove and gives an additional 
air of homeliness to the scene. 

^' The state-rooms are also arranged amidships, at either end of the 
saloon, and are large, well-lighted, and furnished with every conven- 
ience, including electric bells. Bath-rooms are within easy reach, and 
nothing that can promote the comfort of the passenger is omitted. 
The smoking-room is not, as too often, a close little den, but a large 
and handsome apartment ; and the ladies' saloon is on a more liberal 
scale than usual, and far more attractive in its appointments. From 
their situation and the great length of the ships, the main saloon, the 
state-rooms, and all the rooms for the general use of the passengers, are 



HISTORY OF STJEA3I NAVIGATION. 381 

almost entirely free from motion, except in the worst of weather, thus 
reducing the risk of sea-sickness to a minimum. 

^^ Five water-tight bulkheads run from the top to the bottom of the 
ship. These are supplemented by self-closing doors, and other appli- 
ances designed to confine a leak or the effect of an accident to that part 
of the vessel to w^iich the mishap may have occurred. These doors 
are perfectly self-acting and almost independent of human agency. In 
one compartment, containing the after-set of boilers, the door which 
leads to the next compartment is arranged for prompt water-tight closing. 
Should the water find its way into the neighboring compartment, the 
engineer in charge has only to turn a lever and the ponderous door 
falls into its place, regulated in its descent by an air cylinder, which 
checks the door and causes it to fall in jerks. In another compart- 
ment you find that the iron way, upon which you walk, is automatic. 
Should the sea find its way beneath, the door (for the flooring upon 
which you have passed is, after all, only a kind of iron bridge) rises 
by the action of the water, and confines the water to a section of the 
vessel. There is nothing more remarkable in the fittings of these 
steamers than these self-acting doors, which are always kept in perfect 
order, working with a simplicity only equaled by the importance of the 
work. they can accomplish." 

The managers of the line have adopted " ic'^ as a termination for 
the names of their vessels, as." Adriatic,'^ " Celtic," " Baltic," "Britan- 
nic," " Germanic," " Kepublic," etc. 

At a meeting of the passengers assembled in the saloon of the 
steamer " Britannic," oflP Sandy Hook, on the evening of August 17, 
1877, on the completion of the voyage from Queenstown in the un- 
precedented time of 7 days, 10 hours, and 53 minutes, it was " Resolved, 
To ask Captain Thompson to accept a souvenir, suitably inscribed, to 
commemorate this achievement." Thirty passengers and a number 
of invited guests were present. The souvenir consisted of a silver 
pitcher, with this inscription : " Presented to Captain Wm. H. Thomp- 
son, of S. S. ' Britannic,' by the passengers, to commemorate the voy- 
age from Queenstown to New York, August 10 to August 17, 1877." 
The presentation speech by D. W. James humorously contrasted the 
discomforts of ocean travel twenty years ago with the speed and con- 
veniences which modern vessels aiFord. 

A silver cup, appropriately inscribed, was also presented to the 
chief engineer of the "Britannic," Thomas Sewell, as a mark of the 
passengers' appreciation of his skill and care during the voyage, Sep- 
tember 29, 1877. 

The " Coptic," the latest addition to the White Star Line, arrived 
at New York December 3, 1881, after an exceedingly rough passage 
of sixteen days. The "Coptic" is a sister ship to the "Arabic," of 
the same line, and was built at Belfast, Ireland. The material used in 



382 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

her construction is milled steel, which was chosen on account of its 
strength and toughness. Her dimensions are : Length, 430 feet ; 
breadth, 42 feet; and depth of hold, 34 feet. Her registered tonnage 
is 4368 tons, but she will carry about 6000. She is propelled by two 
double-cylindered compound engines of 450 horse-power at 90 pounds 
pressure of steam. These were built by the Victoria Engine- Works, 
Liverpool. The main shaft is a built one. In the engine-room are 
the very large pumps. In the next room are two dynamos, which 
furnish electricity for the Swan electric lights used throughout the 
ship. There are three double elliptical boilers, which require twelve 
fires to heat them, and have been tested to 180 pounds. While the 
" Coptic'^ is intended to be used more for carrying freight than passen- 
gers, the accommodations for passengers are very good. The state- 
rooms are large and supplied with all the conveniences known to 
modern ship-builders. The main saloon is handsomely upholstered in 
dark olive velvet, and is approached through an entrance hall from the 
main staircase. The saloon is paneled in wood made to simulate em- 
bossed leather. The chairs are cane-seated and revolving. The light 
all through the ship is furnished by the Swan electric lamps, which 
consist of carbonized threads inclosed in hermetically sealed glass bulbs. 
The hull of the "Coptic" is divided into eight compartments, either 
one of which might be stove in without endangering the vessel. The 
principle upon which the doors of these compartments are worked is 
comparatively new, and has been so highly approved by the English 
Admiralty Board that the government has adopted it in building ves- 
sels for the navy. The " Coptic" has four masts, three being square- 
rigged, and the fourth being fore- and aft-rigged. There are three 
decks, braced in every direction, and turtle-backs fore and aft. 

The ^' Coptic" left Queenstown, on her first trip, on the 17th of 
November, 1881. Her captain said of her, "She behaved very well. 
We had about as heavy weather as I have seen, and nothing could be 
more satisfactory than the ' Coptic' When we were in about forty 
degrees west we were struck by a hurricane. On the 28th she was 
struck aft by a sea which stove in the after turtle-back over the rudder, 
swept everything loose away, stove in two boats, and carried two 
sailors overboard. We could do nothing to save them, because no 
boat could live in such a sea. The iron plates over the wheel were 
broken in. The stout iron rods were bent and twisted by the water 
as though they had been light wires in the hands of a strong 
man." 

The chief engineer said of the engines, " They work beautifully. 
One man can, by moving six little levers, work the whole engine with 
one-half the effort ordinarily required to manage a small stationary 
engine. It works rapidly too. On this side is the signal-plate which 
connects with the bridge. The engineer can in less than a minute 



HISTORY OF S TEA 31 NAVIGATION. 383 

after receiving the order to stop, go ahead at full or half speed, or 
back. They are as easily managed as any engines I have ever seen. 
The new lights make the engine-room as light as day.'' 

The '^ Coptic" and her sister ship, the '^ Arabic," are intended for 
the carrying of freight and emigrants. The " Coptic" will probably 
be sent to the Pacific in two or three years, to run between San Fran- 
cisco and Hong-Kong. She will carry more freight, run faster on a 
given amount of coal, said her captain, than any vessel now running 
between New York and England. The " Coptic," on her first trip, 
brought a few saloon passengers, three hundred emigrants, and a full 
cargo of freight. 

Navigazioxe Generale Italiaxa. — This great steamship com- 
pany, w^hose head-quarters are in Eome, with departments at Genoa 
and Palermo, is a union of Florios and Rubattinos companies, and 
have service extending all over the Mediterranean, and up the Adriatic 
and Black Sea, and to India, also to New York. The I. & V. Florio 
Company, of Palermo, began operations about twenty-five or thirty 
years ago, and five years ago absorbed the Trinacria Company, of 
Palermo, making their fleet about forty-five steamers of various sizes. 
Later, they consolidated with the Rubattino Company, of Geneva, 
whose business was, in a great part, to the East, through the Suez 
Canal, the combined fleet consisting now of ninety-two steam vessels, 
exclusive of several very large ones which are being constructed. In 
the New York trade they now have employed three steamers regularly 
of large tonnage, — viz., the "Archemede," 4500 tons; the "Wash- 
ington," 4000 tons ; and the " Vincenzo FJorio," 4000 tons ; besides 
three other steamers of somewhat smaller tonnage, employed as trade 
requires. Three other steamers are being built for the New York 
Line, and it is anticipated six steamships will be running regularly on 
that line in the course of a year. A recent newspaper says^ speaking 
of this company, — 

" The Italian government is rendering essential aid to the eflPorts 
of its citizens to extend the commerce of the country. Under the 
promise of large bounties from the government, two great shipping 
firms at Genoa have united and have given orders to English builders 
for twenty steamers, all of them ranging between 4000 and 5000 tons 
register. For many years the traffic of the great Italian port has been 
stationary, Marseilles having outrun it under the changed conditions 
of modern commerce. An effort is now to be made to restore the 
prosperity of former days, and immense new docks have been con- 
structed. The new steamers will not be confined to the Mediterranean 
trade, but lines will be established to both coasts of the American 
continent." 

The company's steam fleet consists of the following-named steam- 
ships, — viz : 



384 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



BELONGING TO THE GENOA BRANCH. 



Name. Tons. 

Abissinia 3600 

Adriatico 1200 

Africa 1200 

Alessandro Yolta 600 

Arabia 1400 

Asia 1300 

Assiria 1600 

Bengala 1600 

Birmania 3200 

Calabria 1400 

Candia 1000 

Caprera 600 

China 5000 

, Cipro 1100 

Christoforo Colombo 500 

Conte Menabrea . 200 

Corsica 200 

Egitto 1300 

Elba 200 

Giava 3600 

Gorgona 200 

India 1400 



Name. Tons. 

Italia 600 

Liguria 550 

Lombardia 500 

Malabar 1900 

Malta 1000 

Manilla 4800 

Messina 1200 

Montcalieri 600 

Palestine 900 

Palmaria 1000 

Persia 1400 

Pertusola 800 

Pianosa 100 

Piemonte 400 

Roma 2200 

Sardegna 400 

Sicilia 800 

Singapore 4500 

Sumatra 2200 

Tortola 150 

Torcana 400 

Umbria 300 



Raffaele Rubattino, 5000 tons (building). 



BELONG I:NG TO THE PALERMO BRANCH. 



Name. Tons, 

Alfredo Cappellini 150 

Amerigo Vespucci 400 

Ancona . 700 

Archemede 4500 

Bagnaria 1200 

Barone Ricasoli 200 

Campidoglio 500 

Cariddi 1200 

Dripane 2000 

Egadi 2600 

Egida . 100 

Elettrico 450 

Enna 2000 

Etna 500 

Faro 1500 

Firenze 450 

Flavis Gioja 400 

Galileo Galilei . 400 

Imera 1800 

Jonio . 1500 

Leone 550 

Liliteo 1200 

Marco Polo 400 



Name. Tons. 

Marsala 2300 

Mediterraneo . 1800 

Milano 400 

Moretto 100 

]Sapoli 450 

Oreto 700 

Orlegia 2200 

Pachino 1200 

Palermo 480 

Peloro 2500 

Principe Amedeo 1200 

Principe Oddone ........ 1200 

Scilla 1200 

Sagesta 2500 

Selinunte 1800 

Simeto 2300 

Solunto . 2500 

Taormina 1800 

Tigre 400 

Tirreno 800 

Yenezia 900 

Vincenzio Florio 4000 

Washington 4000 



1871. — The American Steamship Company of Philadel- 
phia was organized in 1871 with a capital of $2,500,000, and a con- 
tract was given to Messrs. Cramp & Sons, of Philadelphia, for the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 385 

construction of four first-class iron steamships of 3000 tons burden, 
and to have an average speed of thirteen knots an hour. The steamers 
were intended to carry the mails and conduct a general freight and 
passenger business between Philadelphia and Liverpool, calling at 
Queenstown. The ^' Pennsylvania/' the pioneer steamship of the 
line, was launched in August, 1872, and made her first voyage in 
May, 1873. The '' Ohio,'' " Indiana,'^ and '' Illinois" followed at 
regular intervals. They are 360 feet long, 42 feet beam, and 33 feet 
depth of hold. Their engines are nominally 500 horse-power, and 
capable of being worked up to 3000. Their great breadth of beam, 
in proportion to their length, tends to increase their steadiness at sea. 
This line is now the only transatlantic line sailing under the American 
flag, and the fleet in 1881 embraced the following nine first-class 
steamships : 



Tons. 

Pennsylvania 3104 

Ohio 3104 

Indiana 3104 

Illinois 3104 

LordClive 3386 



Tons. 

Lord Gough 3655 

British Crown 3487 

British Queen 3558 

British King 3558 

British Prince 3858 



A steamer of the fleet sails every Wednesday and Saturday between 
Liverpool and Philadelphia from each port, calling at Queenstown. 
They are capable of carrying 100 first-class, 75 intermediate, and 800 
steerage passengers, with from 3500 to 4500 tons of freight. A por- 
tion of the main-deck is set apart for the special accommodation of 
" intermediate" passengers. Families can secure separate rooms, and 
have their meals served apart from the other passengers, at about half 
the price paid by the holders of first-class tickets, and the bill of fare 
is ample and varied. The accommodations for steerage passengers are 
excellent, and great pains is taken to secure comfort and to provide 
wholesome and unstinted food for this class of voyagers. 

The largest vessel of the line, the '' British Prince," is 419 feet long 
has 42 feet beam and 28 feet depth of hold, and is 3858 tons register. 

The shortest passage of any steamship of the line was made by the 
''Illinois," October, 1880, from Queenstown to Cape Henlopen, in 
eight days, ten hours, and thirty-four minutes, beating the " Pennsyl- 
vania's" shortest time of eight days, nineteen hours, and twelve min- 
utes. The average passage is about ten days. The " Illinois," in her 
59 round voyages, or 118 passages, has had six years, ten months, and 
thirteen days sea service. In 59 passages out to Queenstown she 
traveled 173,000 miles, and in 59 home to Henlopen, 171,092 miles, 
a distance of 344,092 miles, to which must be added 10,620 miles up 
and down the Delaware, and 27,966 miles from Queenstown to Liver- 
pool, making the total nautical miles 382,678, equal to 441,093 statute 
miles. 

27 



386 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



Safeguards against loss of life at sea are a feature in the equipments 
of these steamers. In addition to the usual complement of life-boats 
of the ordinary construction, each carries a number of life-rafts, pro- 
vided with bread- and water-tanks, always kept supplied. These rafts 
can be thrown into the water with scarcely a moment's delay; and 
have appliances for the accommodation of passengers on both top 
and bottom, and are always right side up. They are more available 
in a storm than ordinary life-boats, which have to be lowered with 
caution, and are frequently stove against the side of the ship and 
rendered useless. 

General Grant, on starting upon his trip around the world, on the 
17th of May, 1877, took his departure from Philadelphia in one of 
these steamers, the " Indiana." 

The five latest additions to the line were built in Great Britain, 
two being constructed by Harland & WolfP, of Belfast, and three by 
the Lairds, of Liverpool. Although of greater tonnage, they are not 
fitted to carry as many first-class passengers as the American-built 
ships. 

City Line of Ocean Steamships. — The steamships of this line 
sailing fortnightly via the Suez Canal from Glasgow and Liverpool to 
Calcutta direct and back to London, are so called because they are 
named for the principal cities of the world. They are owned by 
Messrs. George Smith & Sons, of Glasgow, and comprise twelve steam- 
ships, varying in tonnage from 3750 to 2328 tons, — viz. : 



Tons. 

City of Damascus 3,750 

City of Agra 3,412 

City of London 3,212 

City of Khios 3,246 

City of Venice 3,206 

City of Manchester 3,125 

City of Cambridge 2,329 



Tons. 

City of Edinburgh 3,212 

City of Canterbury 3,212 

City of Carthage ........ 2,650 

City of Mecca 2,290 

City of Oxford 2,328 



Total tonnage of the fleet . . 35,972 



The State Steamship Line was established in 1872 by a British 
company, in Glasgow. The steamers comprising the fleet have all been 
built on the Clyde, by the Glasgow Engineering and Ship-Building 
Company, especially for the North Atlantic passenger traffic. Each 
steamer is constructed with an especial view to safety, which is inva- 
riably the first consideration in all deliberations regarding the opera- 
tions of the company. It is due to the care and vigilance of the 
company's officers that the line has been so fortunate in escaping 
accidents. 

The officers of this company are supplied with, and instructed to 
use carefully and often in case of fogs, and on all occasions of uncer- 
tainty, the log, patent log, head-line, and Sir William Thomson's 
sounding-machine. Officers are also instructed as to the necessary 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 387 

precautions in the avoidance of danger from collision with fishermen 
off the Banks, and from icebergs. Intemperance is uncompromisingly 
dealt with, and no officer employed or retained who is addicted to the 
excessive use of spirituous liquors. 

The cabins are situated on the main-deck, in the portion of the 
steamer where the least motion is felt, and consequently the less liability 
to sea-sickness. The state-rooms are arranged with two berths and a 
sofa; are large, light, and well ventilated. For the convenience of 
ladies, there are private baths and dressing-rooms in the main saloon, 
and reception-rooms on deck. There are also provided for gentlemen, 
baths, smoking- and reading-rooms, and everything necessary for their 
comfort and enjoyment during the voyage. For the general use of 
passengers there are comprehensive libraries of selected books, pianos, 
and other musical instruments, and most tastefully arranged concert- 
halls. The main dining-saloons, which are luxuriously furnished, 
extend entirely across the steamers, and are provided with revolving 
chairs, and other improvements for convenience and comfort. 

The tables are always supplied with all seasonable delicacies, and 
an abundance of the best quality of the more substantial and neces- 
sary eatables, a la carte. Attentive stewards are at the disposal of 
passengers. 

Experienced surgeons also accompany each steamer. 

The second cabins of this line are in the centre portion of the 
steamers on main-deck. The berths are similar to those in the first 
cabin, with plenty of clean linen, and the floors are carpeted, the only 
difference being that there are four in a room, and occasionally more. 
Second-cabin passengers are not permitted in the saloon or smoking- 
rooms. There are separate dining-tables, and well-prepared meals are 
served three times daily. During the busy season the sexes are sepa- 
rated ; but whenever it is practicable to book families together it is 
invariably done. 

Steerage passengers receive special attention by the State Line 
Company, and this company has made special arrangements for the 
convenience of families, who are allotted to special rooms wherever 
practicable. The proper separation of the sexes and the provision for 
the privacy of single women has also been looked after in the State 
Line steamers. Good provision is made for ventilation and other 
necessary comfort. There is always a liberal supply of well-cooked 
food on hand, which is served out unsparingly. The surgeon visits the 
steerage apartments three times regularly every day, and oftener when 
necessary. Special hospitals are also arranged on deck for the isolation 
of patients when necessary. 

During the year 1881 the company added to their fleet two new 
and large steamers, — the "State of Nebraska'' and the "State of 
Florida." Both of these are specimens of marine architecture of 



388 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

which the company may well be proud. They are about 400 feet long, 
42 feet wide, and have a tonnage measurement of between 4000 and 
5000. There are accommodations for about 100 first-class saloon, 80 
second-cabin, and several hundred steerage passengers. 

The saloons, which are on the main-deck, extend entirely across 
the steamer, are provided with six long dining-tables with revolving 
chairs of the most approved pattern, securely fixed so as to afford the 
greatest ease for passengers while enjoying their meals. The saloons 
are lighted by skylights from above, and the usual side port-holes. 
In the upper portion of the saloon is a circular balcony or gallery, at 
one end of which is a piano and at the other a pipe-organ, and around 
the sides are elegantly upholstered seats. This room is. called the 
concert-hall. 

The state-rooms are both forward and aft of the saloons, and they 
are unusually large, well lighted and ventilated. They are fitted with 
two berths each, and a sofa berth, which may be utilized by children 
or members of the same family, if they so desire. 

From the ladies' saloon a wide companion-way leads up to the 
hurricane-decks, which extend the entire breadth of the vessels, and 
are 125 feet in length, affording a splendid promenade. 

The ladies' private dressing-rooms, gentlemen's smoking-rooms, 
libraries, bath-rooms, etc., are all well arranged and provided with all 
necessary appointments for convenience and luxury. 

The second cabins are situated forward of the saloons, and are 
provided with a comfortable saloon and separate tables. The state- 
rooms are about the same as those in the saloon, — the floors carpeted, 
and plenty of bedding provided, — so that while the passengers by this 
class are not allowed the extra privileges of the saloon passengers, yet 
they certainly have here most comfortable quarters. 

The steerage berths are also situated on the main-deck, and are 
unusually convenient and comfortable. The berths are arranged and 
classified so as to afford more retirement and privacy to single women, 
and large rooms for families where they may remain intact. Th^e 
are also provisions for good ventilation and cleanliness, and also hos- 
pitals for the sick in case such are required. 

Route, Length of Trip, etc. — The route of the State Line 
steamers is from New York, every Thursday, to Glasgow direct. 
From Glasgow steamers sail every Friday, calling at Belfast, from 
which port a steamer sails every Saturday. The average length of 
voyage is nine to ten days between New York and Glasgow, and vice 
versa. The steamers of this line take the direct course across the 
Atlantic, passing the north coast of Ireland, thus avoiding the un- 
pleasant experience of a trip through St. George's Channel. 

The company's fleet is composed of the " State of Nebraska," about 
4500 tons; ^' State of Florida," about 4000 tons; "State of Indiana," 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 389 

about 3000 tons; ''State of Xevada/' about 3000 tons; ''State of 
Pennsylvania/^ about 3000 tons ; " State of Georgia/' about 3000 tons ; 
" State of Alabama/' about 3000 tons ; " State of /' building. 

187S. — The Eed Star Line. — The Eed Star Line, of Belgian 
Royal Mail Steamers, between Antwerp and New York and Phila- 
delphia, was inaugurated in 1873, under the auspices of the King of 
the Belgians, and now comprises seven large, full-powered steamers, 
forming a weekly line, sailing from Europe and America every Satur- 
day. The latest additions to the fleet, the " Belgenland,'' the " Rhyn- 
land," and the " Waesland/' are built with all the modern appliances 
for comfort and safety, and are among the largest and fastest steamships 
in the Atlantic trade. 

The fleet comprises the following first-class steamers : 



Steamers. 


Built. 


Tons. 


Beam. 


Length. 


Waesland 

Ehynland 

Belgenland 

Switzerland 

Nederland 

Vaderland 

Zeeland . . . 


1880 
1879 
1879 
1874 
1873 
1872 
1878 


. 5000 
4000 
4000 
3000 
3000 
3000 
3500 
5000 


43 feet. 
40 " 
40 " 
39 '' 
39 " 
39 " 
43 " 
43 " 


445 feet. 
418 " 
418 " 
345 " 
345 " 
330 <' 
370 " 


New Steamer (building) . . 


445 " 



The " Belgenland" and the " Rhynland" were added to the fleet in 
1879, and were built by the celebrated Barrow Ship-Building Com- 
pany, of Barrow, England. Their engines are compounded, of about 
2200 indicated horse-power, and consume from forty-fiv^e to fifty tons 
of coal per day, producing an average speed of fourteen knots per 
hour. They have accommodations for 150 cabin and 1000 steerage 
passengers. 

The " Waesland," added in 1880, is from the ship-yards of Harland 
& Wolff, of Belfast. She is of 5000 tons burden, 445 feet long, 43 
feet beam, and 34 feet 8 inches depth of hold. She has four decks, 
three of them of iron, and four iron masts, two of which are square- 
rigged. She can accommodate 150 cabin and 1500 steerage passengers. 
These vessels are of the highest class in every respect, having been 
built under the special survey of the Inspectors of British Lloyds 
and Bureau Veritas, the leading authorities on the classification of 
ships. The state-rooms and saloons are in the centre of the ship, 
where the least motion is felt, and are supplied with the latest improve- 
ments in ventilating apparatus, electric bells, commodious bath- and 
smoking-rooms, etc. 

The second cabins and state-rooms are situated above the main-deck 
(the same deck as the first cabin), in the after part of the ship. They 
have the same perfect ventilation as the first cabins, and are unsur- 
passed in cleanliness and convenience, being admirably adapted for 



390 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

families and passengers generally who may wish to exercise a moderate 
amount of economy in their voyage to and from Europe. 

The American Line (running between Philadelphia and Liverpool) 
and the Red Star Line (running between New York and Antwerp) 
are under one management, and first-class round-trip tickets issued 
for one line are good to return on the other. Holders of first-cabin 
excursion tickets by the Red Star Line who may be in England, and 
not caring to recross the English Channel, can therefore return by the 
American Line direct from Liverpool to Philadelphia, by applying to 
the agents of the American Line at Liverpool. 

To those who wish to go direct to the Continent, the Red Star 
Line offers unusual inducements. The voyages to Antwerp are direct 
and uninterrupted, and on landing at that port the passenger finds 
himself but a short distance from Paris, and within easy travel of the 
leading continental cities. 

187^. — The Monarch Line. — The legal and corporate name of 
this company is ^'The Royal Exchange Shipping Company" (limited), 
but it is better known as the Monarch Line, from the nomenclature 
adopted by the company for the ships of its fleet. The ships are all 
well built of iron and steel, with a double hull and six water-tight 
compartments, the bulkheads running from the keelson to the upper- 
deck. They are 400 feet in length, 45 feet beam, 33 feet depth of 
hold, and are of a gross tonnage of 4500 tons, with engines of 
2500 horse-power. They are built under the British Admiralty Sur- 
vey, to comply with their stringent rules for government transport 
service. Their accommodations are similar and equal to those of the 
steamers of other transatlantic lines. Several of the ships of this line 
have been taken up as transports by the English government in the 
several wars it has been engaged in since 1874. 

The ^^ Grecian Monarch," the latest addition to the line, and which 
arrived from London at New York, September, 1882, on her first trip, 
is thus described in the Daily Graphie of the 16th : 

" Lying at her dock next the Pavonia Ferry in Jersey City, her 
huge sides exposed to view, and her masts, which are of iron, glistening 
in the sunlight, the steamer looked a craft of rare beauty. She is not 
large as compared with some of the modern monsters in the shape of 
vessels that now cross the sea, but she is symmetrical and strongly 
built, the main purpose of her construction being evidently safety 
rather than a high rate of speed. Over all she is 400 feet long, while 
her breadth of beam is 43 feet and her hold 33 feet. She is 4364 tons 
burden, and above the spar-deck has a hurricane-deck 166 feet long 
and 30 feet wide. She has accommodations in the steerage for 1000 
passengers, and in the cabins for 112. The ship is divided into water- 
tight compartments, and, besides a handsome dining-saloon, smoking- 
room, and ladies' cabin, has three hospitals, — two located near the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 391 

steerage and one on deck. Of the first two, one is set apart for men, 
while the other is appropriated to the use of women. The third is 
for patients who may chance to fall ill of an infectious disease. It is 
completely isolated, and forms an improvement worthy of special note. 
Like her sister vessels, the '^ Grecian Monarch" is peculiarly fitted for 
troop service, and is on the English Admiralty list for that purpose. 
The steerage is more commodious, however, than on the other ships, 
and the ventilation afforded better than on most ships that come into 
this port. The state-rooms are of average size, bat beautifully and 
comfortably furnished. The berths are tempting retreats. The saloon, 
which is almost amidships, is as elegant as that of any first-class hotel. 
An upright piano of rich ebony is one of its attractions. The apart- 
ment is finished in carved oak and maple, and has white ceilings 
decorated with gold stars. The upholstering is of blue morocco 
leather and velvet. The captain, officers, and crew, numbering one 
hundred men, were selected with care. The captain is Mr. R. J. W. 
Bristow, a gentleman of long experience at sea. He was the late 
commander of the ^' Egyptian Monarch,^' and formerly in the service 
of the Cunard and White Star Lines. The vessel ran at the rate of 
fourteen knots per hour in coming from London, but as usual during 
a first trip there were little hinderances to sj^eed, which will be done 
away with when the machinery works more smoothly.^' 

The "Assyrian Monarch," in 1882, was honored by having as a 
passenger from England the celebrated elephant Jumbo. He received 
royal honors en route, the boy crews of the training-shij^s manning 
yards as he went by. Lady Burdett-Coutts and party traveled from 
London to bid the great brute farewell. The Baroness on reaching 
the '' Monarch" went to the forward part of the ship, between decks, 
to visit the elephant, and gave him a last bun and bid him good-by. 
The Baroness left a sum of money to purchase sweets, etc., for the 
" Monarch's" passage. So much interest in England was manifested 
for Jumbo that the '^Monarch" took out elastic bags to be dropped 
into the sea at intervals in regard to his health, etc., a skillful means 
of advertising the enormous beast. As she left the Millwall docks 
she was gayly dressed with flags. 

The Monarch Line forms a direct communication between London 
and New York, and has connections with Havre, Paris, Hamburg, 
Bremen, Antwerp, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen. 

The present fleet consists of the following-named steamships : 

Name. Built. 

!N"orman Monarch . 1875 
Danish Monarch . . 1878 
Celtic Monarch . . 1879 
Assyrian Monarch . 1880 

Eoman Monarch . . building 4400 



Registered 

Tonnage. 

1482 


Name. 
Persian Monarch . . 


Built. 
1880 


Registered 

Tonnage. 

3908 


1338 
2014 
3917 


Egyptian Monarch . 
Lydian Monarch . . 
Grecian Monarch . . 


1881 
1881 
1882 


3916 
3916 
4364 



Name. Tons Re 

Governor 2650 

Historian 1830 

Inventor 2291 

Legislator 2126 

Mariner . 1443 

Mediator 2011 

Merchant 1443 

Orator 1342 

Professor , . . , . 2630 

Statesman 1851 

Warrior 1281 



392 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

The Harrison Line. — This line of steamships, running between 
New Orleans and Liverpool, has started up since the Civil War, and is 
the outgrowth of a line of sailing ships which were running as early 
as 1850. The owners of this line are Thomas and James Harrison, 
of Liverpool. The following is a list of their steamers in 1882 : 

Name. Tons Reg. 

Alice 1182 

Architect 1934 

Author 1393 

Chancellor 2052 

Chrysolite 702 

Cogniac 702 

Commander 1550 

Counsellor 2251 

Discoverer 2251 

Editor 1393 

Engineer 2750 

Explorer . . , 2010 

The Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah. — This com- 
pany runs a line of ocean steamships between New York and Savannah 
and Philadelphia and Savannah, and owns at present a fleet of nine 
vessels, — viz., the '' City of Augusta," '^ City of Macon," " City of 
Savannah," " Juniata," '' Dessoug," '' Tallahassee," " Chattahoochie," 
and " Wacoochie." The three last have been recently launched from 
Eoach's yard at Chester. The "City of Columbus" and the ^'Gate 
City," formerly of this company, were sold in September, 1882, to a 
Boston company, which will run them as a connecting line with the 
Ocean Steamship Company, using the docks of the latter company at 
Savannah. The " Dessoug," used as a freight boat, is noted for having 
brought to New York the Egyptian Obelisk presented by the Khedive. 
The cost of her purchase and refitting amounted to $94,642.58, and 
she is estimated to be worth $120,000. 

The "City of Augusta," until the recent additions to this line, 
which are not yet in commission, was the largest vessel engaged in the 
coastwise trade, having a cargo capacity of 3000 tons, or 6000 bales of 
cotton. She is 323 feet over all, 40 feet beam, has three decks, and 
five water-tight compartments, and is built of iron. She carries com- 
pound engines, with two inverted cylinders, 42J and 82 inches in 
diameter respectively. Her screw is 16 feet in diameter, with 26 feet 
pitch ; her working pressure, 100 pounds of steam. She has six steel 
tubular boilers, and steam steering-gear and capstans. With accom- 
modations for one hundred passengers, her state-rooms are roomy, and 
her fitting-up is sumptuous. No steamer goes out of New York 
having more elegant appointments. The saloons are finished in many- 
colored foreign woods ; polished brass dazzles the eye at every point ; 
revolving chairs, elegantly upholstered, solicit the lazy passenger; the 
table equipments are tasteful and handsome. The personal adminis- 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 393 

tration of the company's ships leaves nothing to be desired, whether it 
be seamanship on deck or hospitable courtesy in the saloon. 

These ships are greatly used by invalids ordered to Florida or 
elsewhere in the South by their physicians, and these have usually to 
make the winter voyage. The ships are steam- heated, and always 
comfortable, though twenty-four hours out of New York the weather 
becomes warm. The " City of Macon'' and the " Dessoug" rode out 
the terrible cyclone of August 31, 1881, without damage, and the 
entire fleet is made up of thoroughly seaworthy ships. The northward- 
bound traffic is largely made up of cotton, of which 247,944 bales 
were delivered in New York in 1880-81, an increase of more than 
one hundred per cent, in three years. Other shipments comprise 
tobacco, rice, turpentine, rosin, watermelons, fruits, and vegetables, 
and yellow pine lumber. From New York were sent last year 
130,000 tons of sundries and 6357|- tons of railroad iron. 

On the retirement of Mr. Waddell (since deceased) last year from 
the presidency, the late Hon. Edward C. Anderson, many years mayor 
of Savannah, and an ex-officer of the United States navy, and who 
had previously been a managing director, was elected to fill the vacancy. 
The wharves, docks, and warehouses of the company at Savannah are 
of ample capacity and excellent arrangement for the transaction of 
its business. Through bills of lading and tickets are given by this 
company over the Central Railroad of Georgia, Savannah, and Western 
railroads, and close connection made with the steamers and railroad to 
Florida. 

1875. — The Mitu-Bishi Steam Navigation Company. — This 
line of steamers, under the Japanese flag, was established in 1875, and 
its shares were held almost exclusively by Japanese. In 1876 it 
owned four steamers, — viz., the " Tokio-Murin," nee '^ New York," the 
" Kunayana-Murin," n^e '* Madras," the " Takar-Murin," nee " Acan- 
thia," and the " Zazon ; " while others were in course of construction 
in Great Britain, which were to form a weekly line between China 
and the Japanese ports of Nagasaki, Hiogo, Imioscki, and Yokohama. 
This was a great advance from their seclusion and isolation from the 
rest of the world, from which they were awaked by their treaty with 
Commodore M. C. Perry, in 1854, only twenty-one years before. 
This company purchased steamers with great rapidity, and now (1882) 
owns considerably over thirty steamers, and they are all named for 
Japanese cities, as " Hiroshima Naru," City of Hiroshima, once the 
" Golden Age" of the Pacific Mail Company. 

The Atlas Steamship Company. — The vessels of the Atlas 
Line are iron screw ships constructed under the superintendence of the 
surveyors to English Lloyds, and in accordance with the requirements 
of the British Board of Trade. The company's fleet consists of the 
following steamships : 

28 



394 



HI8T0RY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 



T... Gross 

Name, ^ 

Tonnage. 

Albano 2350 

Alene 2104 

Alvo 2009 

Athos 1943 

Ailsa 1950 

Alps 1750 

Andes 1750 

Alvena 1705 

Atlas 1280 



Effective 
Horse- 
power. 
2000 
1600 
1500 
1500 
1200 
1000 
1000 
950 
900 



XT . Gross 

Name. ^ 

Tonnage. 

Avila 1200 

Antilles 1400 

Alpin 890 

Arden 544 

Arran 462 

Aden Branch steamer . . 

Etna 1250 

Claribel 1100 

Also the Satellite tow-boat. 



Effective 

Horse- 

pow^er. 

900 

1000 

700 

600 

500 



The accommodations for passengers, with a special view to their 
comfort, are located in the central portion of the steamer, forward of 
the engines, and both saloons and state-rooms are above the main-deck. 
This prevents any annoyance from the smell or noise proceeding from 
the engine-room, whilst the passengers are placed in that part where the 
motion is least felt and the best ventilation is secured. In the tropics 
these considerations are of paramount importance to the comfort of 
travelers. The crew and officers are all berthed in the after-portion of 
the vessel, so that the forepart is left clear as a promenade-deck. The 
steamers of this line leave New York every fourteen days for Kingston, 
Jamaica, Savanilla, Carthagena, and Colon, Aspinwall, from whence 
they return direct to New York. Their steamers also leave New York 
every ten days for ports in Hayti, and return via Kingston, Jamaica. 
They also leave New York for Cape Hayti and ports on the north side 
of Jamaica, and Greytown, Nicaraugua, returning via ports in Jamaica 
to New York. Still another line of their steamers, under the Spanish 
flag, sail from New York to Maracaibo, calling at Porto Rico, and 
returning via Cape Hayti to New York. 

The company has also established, under a contract with the colonial 
government, a weekly steam-service from Kingston around the island 
of Jamaica, calling at all the principal ports. 

The Atlas Company suddenly advertised, a short time ago, the 
departure of two apparently new steamers, the " Avila'^ and the 
" Antilles," and two of their well-known boats, the " Claribel" and 
the ^' Atlas," disappeared as suddenly from their list. Whence these 
new steamers? What had become of the old ones? It was no 
secret ; the company wished to put two of its vessels under the Spanish 
flag, and had simply changed the English names to Spanish ones. 

Roach's United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Line. 
— The steamships of the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship 
Line (now defunct) were built by John Roach & Son, at Chester, 
Pennsylvania, on the Delaware, and were fine specimens of naval archi- 
tecture. They were 370 feet long over all, 39 feet beam, with a depth 
of hold from base line to the top of spar-deck of 31 feet 6 inches, and 
had a custom-house register of 3500 tons. Their mean low draught 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 395 

was 21 feet. They had three decks, besides the hurricane-deck, from 
the stern extending to the after-side of the main hatch. The deck- 
frames were of iron, and the deck-houses all iron braced and stiffened 
in the most thorough manner. They had six bulkheads dividing 
them into seven water-tight compartments. Connected with these 
compartments were bilge-pumps with separate valves, so that one or 
all could be simultaneously operated. 

Built under the supervision of the French Bureau Veritas, and 
the American Shipmasters' Association of New York, they were 
rendered perfectly seaworthy by the use of the best of material in their 
construction and equipment. They were furnished with 8 metallic 
life-boats, having a carrying capacity of from 35 to 60 each, and with 
four life-rafts capable of carrying 700 persons. The hoisters, windlass, 
capstan, and steering apparatus were all worked by steam. The coal- 
bunkers carried 700 tons of coal, and the temporary and shifting 
bunkers would carry as many more tons. The machinery proper con- 
sisted of two compound surface condensing engines, the cylinders of 
which were 42 inches for the high pressure and 74 inches for the low 
pressure ; each 60 inches stroke, 2500 horse-power, and with separate 
engines for working the air and circulating pumps. By this arrange- 
ment the main engines had only to turn the propeller. The six boilers 
were of the cylindrical return tubular type, their working pressure 
90 pounds to the square inch. There was also a donkey boiler for 
hoisting purposes, clearing the bilge, and supplying the main boilers 
with water in case of fire. The propeller or screw was a four-bladed 
brass one, 16 feet in diameter, of the Hirsch patent. The maximum 
passenger capacity was 100 first-class passengers and 400 in the 
steerage. Commodious rooms were provided on the hurricane-deck 
for the captain and officers ; also a large smoking-room richly furnished 
with lounge seats and circular tables. The accommodation for first- 
class passengers consisted of a saloon 130 feet long by 30 wide. It 
was a sumptuous and commodious apartment. It had six rows of 
tables parallel to each other, over 60 feet in length, sufficient to accom- 
modate over 100 persons. Alongside of them were placed sofas with 
shifting backs, and in addition a range of sofas stretching almost 
around the saloon. The chairs and sofas were upholstered in crimson 
velvet. 

The saloon was lighted through the day by fifty-two square sliding 
windows, each 26 by 20 inches, besides six large mahogany skylights 
fitted with ornamental glass, serving the purposes of light and ventila- 
tion. The ceiling of this spacious and beautiful saloon was over eight 
feet from the floor to the under edge of the deck beams, and the floors 
were inlaid with oak and black walnut. The saloon was richly car- 
peted and adorned with mirrors ; its panelings were Hungarian ash and 
French walnut, with Honduras mahogany mouldings. The stairways 



396 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

were of highly-polished woods, and the Dewel-posts were surmounted 
by bronze figures supporting a lamp. The furniture and appliances 
were of the latest patterns and most elegant finish. 

The state-rooms, or sleeping-apartments, for the first-class passengers 
were on the spar- and hurricane-decks aft of the saloon, and were not 
only commodious, well lighted, and fully ventilated, but furnished in 
a style of luxurious comfort. All of the berths were fitted with rich 
lambrequins and lace curtains. The saloon, ladies' cabin, smoking- 
room, and each individual berth in the first-class departments were sup- 
plied with electrical annunciators, communicating with the steward's 
department. The afterpart of the main saloon was the ladies' boudoir, 
containing a bath-room, supplied with hot, cold, and sea water, and set 
off with lounges, mirrors, etc. The barber-shop, amidships, on the 
spar-deck, had two bath-rooms complete in their appointments. The 
steamers were each supplied with a competent and skilled surgeon. 

The rate of passage from New York to St. Thomas was $70 ; to 
Para, $130 ; to Pernambuco, $150 ; to Bakia, $160 ; to Kio de Janeiro, 
$175. Children under twelve years of age half price. 

The whole project was the enterprise of one plucky man, John 
Roach, a deserving citizen, yet probably one of the best-abused men 
in the country. The founder of the line risked a million of his own 
private capital in starting a line of steamers to an empire six thousand 
miles away, from which the United States buys $60,000,000 worth of 
goods every year, and to which it would like to sell a similar sum 
annually, and could, in time, if facilities for the trade are created and 
maintained. Previous to the starting of the line our merchants were 
handicapped. It was as though Boston were trying to do business 
with San Francisco by means of steamers sailing to Panama, while 
New York was trading over a direct railroad route across the continent. 
We had to send a long way to reach Brazil. The English traded 
direct. Our mails and valuable goods to Brazil had to go by way of 
England, taking ten or thirteen days to cross the Atlantic, having often 
to wait ten days in England for a steamer, and then consuming from 
twenty to twenty-five days in going from the British Isles to Brazil. 

When this new line from this country direct was started, facilities 
were created which were imperatively needed. The convenience of 
the line was so great that it has been frankly and cordially conceded. 
The steamers were well managed, and in three years never missed a 
trip nor failed to sail on time. By means of the line mails were 
sent in twenty-two days direct; and the certainty and regularity of 
the trips were of advantage almost to the whole American public. 
A wide variety of miscellaneous products were introduced, little by 
little, and the start of a large trade effected. In quantities of goods 
sold the export trade to Brazil increased constantly while the steamers 
ran. The line brought travelers and merchants to the country in large 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 397 

numbers, amounting in the three years to about 2000. Profitable 
orders and contracts were brought to this country by these travelers, 
which otherwise would not have been secured. There was a large 
reduction in freights also, through the operation of this American line. 
Instead of its costing from 70 to 85 cents a bag to get coffee to New 
York from Brazil, the freight was reduced to 50, and even to 30 cents 
a bag. This commodity was brought six thousand miles for $5 and 
$6 a ton, that is, at the rate of $1 a ton for a thousand miles of voyage, 
which is about the cheapest ocean transportation ever known. 

The saving to the United States upon the immense importations 
of coffee was very large. The freight on measurement goods was also 
lowered from 35 cents a cubic foot to about 20 cents. These reduc- 
tions and the more important fact of regular and quick communication 
were of genuine service to the public ; and it was with sincere regret 
that business men learned of the discontinuance of the American Line. 
During the three years that Mr. Roach maintained the line, §1,400,000 
was paid out for expenses, $92,000 for repairs in the United States, 
and §300,000 for expenses abroad. And it was estimated that the 
business men of this country saved $1,700,000 by a reduction of South 
American freights during that period. 

Mr. Roach had very far-reaching plans. Could this line have 
received the support he sought to obtain for it, he would have built 
more steamers and started several other lines. The Brazilian fleet 
would have been enlarged, and direct trade would have been opened 
to other coasts. The Buenos Ayres project was only one of many in 
view. 

It seems a pity that the question of mail compensation to the 
Brazilian Line could never have been discussed on its merits. Mr. 
Roach's appeal to Congress was not by any means entirely defenseless. 
He carried the United States mails 140,000 miles in 1879 for §1875, 
while three coasting lines carried them unitedly 123,400 miles and got 
$102,800 for the service. Mr. Roach was beaten, not by the impolicy 
of the subsidy system, but by an organized effort, both in the United 
States and in Brazil, to break him down. People went from city to 
city with subscription papers to raise money for use against him at 
Washington ; and the speeches made at Washington in opposition to 
his line were translated into Portuguese and sent to Brazil by thou- 
sands to create a coldness in official circles there against the American 
steamers. 

The two steamers ^' City of Para" and '^ City of Rio Janeiro" (?) 
were sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and are now run- 
ning on the west coast of America. The history of this line is that 
of an unfortunate enterprise, undertaken in advance of its time, there 
can be little or no doubt to be revived at no very distant day with a 
profitable result. 



398 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



The Malloey Line of Steamships. — I have been unable to 
obtain the historical information I hoped for concerning this important 
steamship enterprise. I learn from its circular that the Mallory Line 
to Texas comprises the following steamships : 



Tons. 

Guadaloupe 2840 

Eio Grande . 2566 

San Marcos 2840 

State of Texas 1696 



Tons, 

Colorado 2764 

Carondelet 1508 

Western Texas 1210 



These vessels stop at Key West, Florida, Galveston, BrazOs, 
Brownsville, Corpus Christi, and Indianola, Texas. The line also 
has connection with Florida, Nassau, and New Providence. Steamers 
of the line leave New York every Friday for Florida, arriving at 
Fernandina on Tuesday, and from Florida there is a steamer to 
Nassau every week. The iron steamer '^ Western Texas" performs 
the service for Florida ; and the iron steamship '' City of San An- 
tonio,'' 1572 tons, is now running regularly on the Mallory Line 
between New York and Florida. She can carry seven thousand 
boxes of oranges in well-ventilated spaces, has fine passenger accom- 
modations, and is fast. 

i<57P.— The Ked '^D" Line of Steamships.— This line of 
steamships, running to Laguayra, Puerto Cabello, Caracas, and Mara- 
caibo, was inaugurated in November, 1879, when the company com- 
menced to substitute them for the line of sailing vessels that had been 
engaged in the trade for upward of forty years. At first foreign 
chartered steamers were engaged in the service. Later on it was 
decided to replace them with steamers built in the United States 
specially for the trade. Accordingly contracts were entered into with 
the William Cramp & Son Ship-Engine Building Company of Phila- 
delphia for the steamer " Caracas," and subsequently for the steamer 
'^ Valencia." The " Caracas" left New York on her first voyage in 
June, 1881, and the " Valencia" in May, 1882. 

These two steamers, of about 1200 tons, new measurement (act of 
Congress, 1882), are built in the most substantial manner, and have 
the highest classification. They are well appointed for passenger as 
well as freight and mail service. They connect at the island of Caracas 
with the branch steamer '^ Maracaibo," running to the port of Mara- 
caibo. The " Maracaibo" was built under contract with Messrs. Neafie 
& Levy, of Philadelphia, and left there in August, 1880. She is 
built of wood, in the most substantial manner, has ample accommoda- 
tions for passengers, and is about 500 tons, old measurement. Being 
intended exclusively for foreign service, she carries the British flag. 
The steamers of the main line, the " Caracas" and " Valencia," are 
officered and manned by citizens of the United States, and carry the 
American flag. 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 399 

A steamship of this line leaves New York twice a month for 
Laguayra, Porto Cabello, and Caracas, the round trip from and back 
to New York occupying about twenty-six days. 

New Yoek, Havana, and Mexican Mail Steamship Line. — 
The company's fleet comprises the following first-class steamships : 
"City of PuebV 3100 tons; '^ City of Alexandria;'' "City of 
Washington/' 2618 tons; "British Empire," 4000 tons, chartered; 
"City of Merida," 2000 tons; "City of Mexico," 1027 tons; which 
are appointed to leave New York every Thursday and Havana every 
Saturday. 

Leaving New York direct for Havana, they proceed from there 
every Tuesday for Vera Cruz and intermediate ports. On the return 
trip they arrive at Havana Wednesday or Thursday, and leave direct 
for New York every Saturday. 

Steamers of this line also run every three weeks between New 
Orleans and Vera Cruz, connecting with the steamers for Havana and 
New York. 

With a view of preventing sea-sickness and of adding to the 
comforts of passengers, there have been placed in a number of state- 
rooms of the steamships " City of Washington" and " City of Alex- 
andria" the new patent Huston self-leveling berths, which remain 
always and under all circumstances in a perfectly horizontal position, 
however great may be the rolling and pitching of the vessel. 

There has also been introduced into the dining-saloons, instead of 
the inconvenient long tables and sofas of the old style, small tables 
that will accommodate from four to eight persons only, with single 
revolving chairs for each one, in order to avoid the usual confusion 
and noise incidental to the dining together of all the passengers. 

The " City of Alexandria" was built by John Roach in 1880, and 
is 338 feet over all, 38 feet 6 inches wide, and 33 feet deep from the 
hurricane-deck, being 10 feet longer, 6 inches wider, and 2 feet 
shallower than the " City of Washington," which in all other respects 
she resembles. Both steamers have excellent accommodations for 150 
first-class passengers. 

The "City of Merida" and the "City of Mexico" are wooden 
ships, built at Greenpoint, Long Island. The " British Empire," char- 
tered, was built for the New Zealand trade, and is 410 feet long, 40 
feet beam, and 28 feet hold. 

1882. — Boston and Savannah. Steamship Company. — Pre- 
vious to the war of the Rebellion the water transportation business 
between the port of Savannah, Georgia, and Boston was by sailing 
vessels, regular lines of packets, for freighting purposes mainly, running 
between this and other principal Southern ports and Boston. About the 
close of the war a line of small steamers was put on for the Savannah 
business, which marked the beginning of a revolution in that trade. 



400 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

These steamers were originally provided and sent out to take 
advantage of the call for cotton transportation between Savannah and 
Boston. Compared with the present facilities they were small affairs, 
450 bales of cotton, without any other description of freight, being 
sufiBcient to load them completely. When the cotton-carrying season 
was over (September to April is the season) their business was consid- 
ered nearly at a stand-still, until the autumn should again bring about 
the particular state of things which they were designed to fit into. 

In 1869 the firm of F. W. Nickerson & Co., of Boston, established 
a steamer line on this route. Their first vessel, the " Oriental,'' was 
an iron screw steamer of 800 tons burden. The " Oriental" made the 
round trip in twenty days. The " Alhambra,'' a steamer of 700 tons, 
was added. In time other steamers took place in the line, and regular 
trips were made, the sailing days being the 10th, 20th, and 30th of 
each month. Finally weekly trips were made, and the carrying 
capacity of the ships had increased to 1800 bales of compressed cotton 
in a single cargo. 

Finally, on the 7th of September, 1882, the Boston and Savannah 
Steamship Company was organized to take the place previously filled 
by F. W. Nickerson & Co., that is, this firm and connections became 
the company with the title just named, and a new departure has been 
taken in the business by the purchase from the Ocean Steamship Com- 
pany of the '^ Gate City'' and the '^ City of Columbus," and placing 
them on the line in connection with th»" ^^ Seminole." 

The first line of steamers established (at the close of the war) found 
available as freights boots and shoes, bagging for cotton-bales, furni- 
ture, fish, and the like commodities. The return cargo was exclusively 
cotton for the use of the New England mills. The changes which 
have occurred in the character of cargoes and their destination during 
the comparatively short time which has passed since are well worth 
consideration. 

The bagging forming an important feature in outward cargoes 
was East India gunny-cloth, imported to Boston, and thence shipped 
by these steamers to Savannah as covering for cotton-bales. Thus it 
became an interesting factor in transportation both ways. The East 
India gunny-cloth disappeared entirely from commerce, in this direction 
at least, five years ago ; and in its place appeared a domestic bagging, 
manufactured in the neighborhood of Boston. In place of the gunny- 
cloth once imported to Boston, now jute-butts are imported, and of 
these butts the domestic bagging is made, which alone is now used in 
covering cotton-bales. 

Another change in the character of the freight carried out is in the 
article of fish. Formerly these were taken largely in bulk; but now 
the product is mostly canned, even mackerel being sent South in this 
form of packing. It is not unusual for one of the present steamers to 



'■1 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 401 

take out five thousand packages of fish at a trip. Some articles of 
freight are so singular as to be almost unaccounted for ; as, for instance, 
from three hundred to five hundred bedsteads are taken out at nearly 
every trip, and chairs and other cheap furniture in proportion. 

In the present cargoes outward from Boston bacon forms an impor- 
tant element. The time is not long since all this supply went South 
from the West. Now, as many as eight hundred boxes of bacon are 
sent to Savannah per trip of these steamers. Immense quantities of 
potatoes and apples are also taken out, the first named principally for 
planting in Georgia and Florida, and in the spring the new potatoes 
produced form an important element in the return cargoes. Great 
numbers of pianos, organs, carriages, etc., are also taken out. 

The difference in quantity of freight carried now, compared with 
former times, is shown by the figures, the present steamers taking about 
100,000 cubic feet, or 2500 tons, of cargo, against 15,000 cubic feet, or 
about 400 tons each, in the early days. An ordinary freight-car will 
carry thirty-six bales of compressed cotton at one time. A cotton cargo 
for one of these steamers is, therefore, equivalent to the loading of a 
freight-train of 122 cars. 

A peculiarity of the composition 'of the return cargoes is the rapid 
growth of the naval-stores business as an element in the transportation 
of this line. Eight years ago there was not perhaps a turpentine-still 
in Georgia, at least not one of any size. Now Savannah rivals Wil- 
mington, North Carolina, in the production of piney products, and the 
shipments to Boston from Savannah average one thousand barrels of 
resin and three hundred barrels of spirits of turpentine per week by 
these steamers. Lumber, once brought in sailing-vessels by slow and 
laborious process, may now be telegraphed for at the mills in Georgia, 
and fine yellow- pine cargoes be landed in Boston within six days 
thereafter. 

Cotton forwarded from the principal centres in Georgia reaches 
Boston by this means in an average of six days from starting. The 
preference in transportation is given to spinners' cotton, — that is, cotton 
to be used in the mills at this end of the route, — but usually at least 
one-quarter of the cargo is on through bills of lading, and goes directly 
across the ocean to foreign ports. The sea-island cotton, for the various 
thread-mills near Boston, is largely brought by these steamers, and 
rice, hides, and wool are also brought largely. 

In the early period of the development of these transportation 
interests the ships were hauled off as soon as the cotton season was over, 
in the spring. Now the business is more profitable when cotton is 
" off '^ than during its season. This quick transportation has developed 
and increased to an enormous extent the truck-farming business of 
Georgia and Florida, it being a matter of common practice to deliver 
produce in Boston four days after it is harvested in Florida. Immense' 



402 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATI6K 

quantities of early vegetables are thus shipped in excellent condition to 
Boston, the succession taking place regularly, and anticipating the 
Northern crops often by many weeks. Later on, of melons alone 
there are often enough shipped by a single steamer to occupy the entire 
capacity of the upper between decks, or as many as forty thousand 
melons at one trip. Cotton forms a part of the cargo of every ship- 
ment, and through bills of lading for this article appear in every 
manifest. 

The orange season for the section of the South (Florida and Georgia) 
continues from November to February. A few years ago only a small 
amount of this fruit came to Boston by water; now these steamers 
bring from two hundred to six hundred boxes of oranges per trip 
during the season. 

And thus these two sections. North and South, minister to the 
wants of each other through the raediumship of this transportation 
line. Not alone this, but the system of through bills of lading, which 
is operated both ways, makes these ministrations far-reaching, and is 
already indicative of grand results in the future in the interests of 
Boston as a commercial centre. It will be noticed that the develop- 
ment already secured has touched importantly upon her export interests, 
and the possibilities in this direction are not limited. At least, an 
element worth taking into account is revealed by these transactions. 

There is a large passenger business between New England and the 
far South during certain seasons of the year. While the heated term 
is on the Southerners delight in visiting our mountains, and lakes, and 
sea-shores, — in fact, every part of thickly-settled and open-armed New 
England. From November to May the New-Englander finds equal 
pleasure in sojourning in the mild climate of Georgia and Florida. 
Heretofore, transportation has been via New York City, involving 
changes of cars, hotel stoppages, and various annoying dependencies. 
The present steamers of the Boston and Savannah Steamship Company 
are fitted expressly for first-class passenger transportation, the cabins, 
saloons, and state-rooms being as fine as can be found anywhere afloat. 
Since the sea trip is direct and most delightful, and the expense of 
transportation less than one-half of that per rail, it is no wonder that 
the route is preferred.' 

1882. — Thingvalla Line. — The passenger steamship " Geyser,'^ 
Captain Thompson, of the new Thingvalla Line, sailed from Copen- 
hagen in December, 1881, on her first trip to New York. The 
Thingvalla Company is composed of Danish capitalists, foremost 
among whom is C. F. Tietgen, the founder of the Great Northern 
Telegraph Company, whose lines extend from England through Asia 
to the Pacific. The steamship " Thingvalla'' had for two years made 

1 The foregoing account of this company is derived from the Sunday Boston 
Herald of September 24, 1882. 



\ 



HISTORY OF STFAJI XAVIGATIOX. 403 

irregular trips between Copenhagen and Xe\Y York. The company 
put three new steamers on the stocks in Copenhagen and in Mahno, 
Sweden; of these the "Geyser" and the "Hecla" have been finished, 
and the " Iceland" is about to be launched. The steamers are the 
largest ever built in Denmark. Their engines are of 2000 tons indi- 
cated horse-power, and are designed to make twelve knots an hour. 
The vessels are 3000 tons burden, 312 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 
calculated to carry 40 cabin and 700 steerage passengers, and a crew 
of 50 men. Their route will be from Copenhagen around the north- 
east coast of Scotland, Christiansand, Xorway, being their only stop- 
ping-place. By going to the north of Scotland time will be saved, and 
it is expected that the steamers will make the trip to Xew York in 
thirteen or fourteen days. An effort will be made to secure the carry- 
ing of the mail between the United States and the Scandinavian king- 
doms as soon as all the four steamers are running. Until the summer 
of 1882 the steamers will make fortnightly trips ; if desirable after 
that the company's fleet will be increased. 

The '^Thingvalla" brought to New York as freight forty thousand 
heads of cabbage that arrived in fair condition. 

The " Hecla," the second of the line, made the voyage in thirteen 
days from Christiansand. Previous to the establishment of this line 
passengers and fast freight from Copenhagen and ports of Denmark 
had to go to Bremen, Hamburg, Havre, Liverpool, or London to take 
steamer for New York. Xow these vessels are full of emigrant pas- 
sengers, and the cabin traffic is also large. The " Hecla," on her first 
trip, carried 760 emigrants. She has cabin accommodations for 30 
passengers. The " Hecla" was built at Malmo, Sweden; is 315 feet 
in length, 40 feet beam, has 30 feet depth of hold, and is of 1846 tons 
capacity. Her saloon and smoking-room are on the main-deck, the 
state-rooms and captain's room being immediately below. Electric 
bells communicate from the state-rooms to the steward's room, and be- 
tween the bridge, wheel-house, and engine-room. 

1S82. — A West India Steamship Exteeprise. — Senor Mar- 
tinez de Campos, a lieutenant-general in the Spanish army, and a 
statesman of high reputation, has been elected president of a Cuban 
steamship company, which will confine its operations almost entirely 
to the West Indian islands. Of course this new enterprise will be 
liberally subsidized by the Spanish home government. 

Seven or eight iron steamships are to be purchased or constructed 
in England, each to have a carrying capacity of at least 2500 tons. 
They will be fitted with all the modern conveniences necessary for cap- 
turing the large passenger traffic that has grown up between the islands. 

Senor Campos proposes to run his ships to all the principal ports 
in the West Indies, to Central America, and to the northern coast of 
South America. They will carry cargoes of assorted goods entered in 



404 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

bond at Havana, and from that port will distribute these goods among 
all the ports embraced in the sphere of operation marked out for the 
new line. The return cargoes will be composed of the products of the 
various islands and countries at which the ships will touch ; and these 
cargoes will enter at Havana, to be distributed by other Spanish steam 
lines among the markets of the world. 

A marked feature of the new enterprise is the design to secure, as 
far as possible, the service of free Cuban negroes for firemen and coal- 
passers, and as sailors only those who have passed through the 
" vomito,'^ or whose residence in the tropics warrants the assumption 
of their thorough acclimation. If a sufficient number of free negroes 
cannot be obtained on the island, the captains of the vessels will be 
empowered to employ such persons of color residing on the other 
islands who will fill the requirements of the company in this sanitary 
respect. 

By the employment of none but acclimated officers and seamen the 
company believes it will economize both time and money. There are 
instances on record when ships have lost a part of their crews in one 
short voyage among the fever-stricken islands, and have been laid up 
in some out-of-the-way port until hands could be procured to work 
them. Passengers, also, would rather travel in vessels thus manned, 
for when sickness breaks out on board a ship it almost always makes 
its first appearance among the crew, who are more exposed to the heat 
of the sun than the passengers, who are protected from its rays by 
awnings. 

Mr. De Campos's new enterprise will receive government help the 
moment the first ship puts to sea. 

1S76. — The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Com- 
pany. — This company forms a direct weekly mail line of American 
steamers between New York and Havana ; it also sends a monthly 
steamer to Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos, leaving New York on 
Saturdays and Havana on Wednesdays. The New York and Havana 
Line comprises the steamships "Newport,'^ "Saratoga,^^ and ^^ Ni- 
agara.'^ The " Santiago" forms its connection between New York and 
Santiago, etc. The steamers of the line also connect at Havana with 
other lines, visiting West India and Florida ports and New Orleans. 

The " Newport," built in 1880, is an iron ship of 3000 tons, 348 
feet in length, 38 feet beam, and 23 feet from the spar-deck to the 
keelson. The " Newport" has made the fastest time on record be- 
tween New York and Havana. Her engines are on the compound 
principle. The cylinders are 90 and 48 inches diameter respectively, 
with 4J feet stroke. The engines are capable of developing 3000 
horse-power, or about one horse-power for every ton of her tonnage, 
which is greater in proportion than that of the " Arizona," the most 
powerful steamship afloat in proportion to registered tonnage. The 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 405 

entire engine department is said to be more roomy and better ventilated 
than that on any steamship afloat. All the steam pumps are so arranged 
that they may be connected with any part of the vessel in case of fire 
or leak, their united capacity being equal to 70,000 gallons, or about 
1750 barrels, a minute. 

The " Saratoga'' takes the place of the well-known steamer bearing 
the same name purchased by the Russian government in 1878 and 
converted into a cruiser. She is 2500 tons register, 320 feet long, 
38.4 feet beam, 23 feet deep to the main-deck, and 31 feet to the hur- 
ricane-deck. She has compound engines of 2000 horse-power, calculated 
to give her a speed of fifteen knots an hour. 

The '^ Niagara," built in 1877, is 2300 tons, 294 feet long, and her 
cabin accommodations are the same as the '' Niagara," 

The " Santiago" was built by John Roach & Son. She is of iron, 
290 feet long, 39 feet beam, and measures 2400 tons. She has the usual 
water-tight compartments and all the latest improvements. 

1882. — Soci]&T]& PosTALE FEANgAiSE DE l'Atlaktique. — The 
Society Postale Fran9aise de FAtlantique, established two years ago 
under subsidies from the governments of Canada and Brazil for car- 
rying their mails, but sailing under the French flag, having deter- 
mined to send the steamers of its line to Boston, has established two 
lines, one for the Brazil trade and the other for the trade between 
Boston, Antwerp, and Havre. The line will be a monthly one to 
and from each port. The line consists of the following steamships : 
'' Ville de Para," " Ville de Ceare," '' Ville de Montreal," " Ville 
de Quebec," and "Ville de Halifax." The ''Ville de Para" left 
Montreal for Brazil in October, and on her return will reach Boston 
about November 30. The first steamer from Antwerp to Boston, 
the ''Ville de Montreal," will leave the former city about the last 
of November or first of December. Mr. William D. Bentley, consul- 
general of the emperor of Brazil, is general agent of the company, 
and his connection with the Brazilian government is of great advan- 
tage to the company he represents in its relations with that country. 
The capital of the company is ten million francs, all paid in. The 
president is Monsieur Derri^re, president of the Society Generale of 
France, and director of the Bank of France. The company began 
running between Canada and Brazil with chartered boats, but it. now 
has five new steamers of 3000 tons burden. They are built in the most 
substantial manner, prop^elled by 1200 horse-power engines, and are 
sumptuously fitted up, with ample accommodations for forty first-class 
passengers each, and are said to excel anything in the way of steamers 
ever run from Montreal. These vessels will afford the best facilities 
for the direct importation of iron-ware, wire goods, wines, liquor, cof- 
fee, sugar, rubber, and, in brief, all French and Brazilian goods, and 
for exporting grain, meats, and breadstuffs. 



406 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

1882. — Steamers on Long Island. — Each of the three lines 
ruDiiing boats on the Sound to New York — viz., the Fall River Line, 
so called, the Providence or Stonington Line, and the Norwich Line — 
have taken a new departure, as it were, within the last two years, add- 
ing a new boat to their lines. Some description of these floating 
palaces may not be out of place as showing, by comparison, the progress 
in size, construction, speed, etc., with the pioneer boats on those waters 
some fifty or sixty years ago. 

The '' Pilgrim," of the Fall River Line.— The hull of this 
new floating palace is of iron, and both builders and owners have 
united to make her absolutely non-combustible and non-sinkable. 
The great increase in the size of the Sound steamers during the last 
few years had generated an intrinsic weakness which demanded radical 
changes in material, methods, etc., of construction. To supply the lack 
of natural strength, so glaring in the ancient steamers, the hull of the 
" Pilgrim'^ is cellular, or, in other words, has a double skin, inside and 
outside, with a system of longitudinal framing between. The system 
of longitudinal and transverse framing is continuous in its strength, 
and in a great degree is independent of the inside and outside platings, 
which, attached to the framework, form a hollow box or girder the 
whole length of the vessel's side and bottom. This hollow box or tank 
is 24 inches deep or wide at the sides of the vessel, and down to the 
turn of the bilge, whence it is increased in size (internal) to 36 inches 
at the centre of the hull, or across the keel. This double hull is di- 
vided into ninety-six water-tight compartments, formed by the water- 
tight athwartship floors and bracket frames, 27 feet apart, and the 
longitudinals, — keelsons running 340 feet fore and aft, and water-tight 
at all intersections. This tank, so to speak, was tested when building 
with a pressure of five pounds to the square inch, thus insuring its effi- 
ciency in practice. The outside plating being, of course, water-tight, 
and the inside, for a distance of 340 feet, water-tight also, it can readily 
be seen that a puncture or strain of the outside skin will have very little 
injurious effect on the vessel's buoyancy; but, in addition to the safety 
provided by the construction of the double hull, the interior capacity is 
again divided into water-tight compartments by half a dozen athwart- 
ship water-tight bulkheads, a subdivision which makes the probability 
of sinking by collision or a rupture of the bottom almost impossible. 
These bulkheads extend up to the main-deck, which is built of iron, 
and made water-tight to the outside of the guard-frame. The wheel 
batteries are of iron, and the inclosure of the engine, boilers, chimney, 
kitchen, smoke-pipes, and ventilators being also of iron, the probability 
of the vital parts of the steamer being destroyed by fire is reduced to a 
minimum. This non-combustible and non-sinkable hull is 384 feet 
long, 50 feet moulded beam, — about 87 feet wide over guards, — and 
17 feet 6 inches deep at the lowest point on the sides. By reason of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 407 

the peculiar type of model, together with its exceedingly large dimen- 
sions, it will be observed that enormous structural strains will be gen- 
erated when in service, to counteract which requires a careful and sci- 
entific adjustment of the resisting material. The longitudinal bracket 
plate system, which originated in the English Board of Admiralty, has 
been adopted, and the extent and degree of skill and care which has 
been exercised in proportioning the diflPerent parts of the hull to their 
respective strain is remarkable. The keel is double plate, the inner 
one 20 by 11^ inches and the outer one 26 by 13^^ inches. The main 
keelson is a single plate 3 feet deep, lOJ inches thick, and in length not 
less than 28 feet; the butts are double-strapped, with heavy plates. 
The longitudinals are six in number, each side of the centre keelson, 
and extend continuously, fore and aft, as far as possible, the outer ones 
forming breast- hooks at the ends about four feet apart. They are built 
of plates, 28 feet in length, with a width, according to location, of 24 
to 36 inches. Two of these are secured to the outer and inner skins 
with single angle irons, and the other two, the heaviest ones, are secured 
to the outer and inner plating with double angle irons, and made water- 
tight. 

By the peculiar construction of this hull an endurance is obtained 
to which the stanchest craft that ever steamed through Long Island 
Sound is but a basket in comparison. There are half a dozen bulk- 
heads, — one placed 26 feet abaft of stem, of 7^-inch plate, stiffened with 
angle iron ; one forward of the boilers ; one between the boilers and 
engines; one abaft the engines; and one collision bulkhead aft. All 
the doors fit water-tight, and are so arranged as to open and close 
quickly. All of the internal supports of the boat are of the best of 
wrought iron, and no wood whatever is employed where metallic mate- 
trial could be substituted. 

The plating of the outer hull is of the best flange iron, 12^ inches 
thick, the plates not less than 14 feet long, with all butts planed 
and triple riveted. The bottom plating, in alternate strokes, is 11^ 
inches thick, and the side and bilge plating, extending aft from the 
stem and forward of the stern port, is flush far enough to compare 
with the in-and-out plating of the bottom. The flush plating has 
seam straps in long lengths, and at and about the water-line the plating 
is doubled as a protection against ice. No plates are less than 14 feet 
long, while those of the sides, for a length of 280 feet midships, are at 
least 28 feet in length, and everything is heavily strapped and double 
and triple riveted. The hull has a heavy inner as well as an outer 
plating ; the main-deck is also laid with stringer plates, and the saloon- 
deck strengthened by placing six-inch T iron carlings eight feet apart, 
all fore and aft. The steering apparatus has a steam stearing-gear, and 
there is an auxiliary steering-gear, always ready for immediate use in 
case of accident to the other. The fitting and furnishings are costly 



408 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 

and elaborate, and every way in keeping with the thoroughness and 
stability of the craft which they adorn, and all parts of the boat are 
illuminated by electric lights. 

The New " Rhode Island," of the Stonington Line. — In 
1882 the Stonington Line had its fleet strengthened by the restoration, 
in name at least, of the renowned steamer '' Rhode Island," being the 
third to date of the line to bear that name, her immediate predecessor 
having been wrecked the year previous. The engines are about all 
comprised in the new craft which did service in the old boats which 
w^ere so popular among the Sound line travelers between New York, 
Providence, and Boston. The old '^ Rhode Island" was constructed in 
1872-73, and went upon the line July 17, 1873. She was a stanch 
boat in every particular, and was capable of most arduous service. 
One season, at least, she ran day and night trips continuously. It will 
be remembered that on her last trip for the season of 1880 she ran 
ashore in a dense fog at the Bonnet, opposite Dutch Island, and in a 
short time, went to pieces, the wreckers saving only her engine, some of 
her cargo, and part of her furniture. Immediately after the disaster 
the steamship company decided to build another steamer to take the 
place of the one destroyed, and on the 1st of January, or thereabouts, 
gave the order for its construction to Robert Palmer, ship-builder at 
Noank, Connecticut. The forests of Connecticut and Virginia were 
drawn upon for white oak. Long Island and the North River fur- 
nished locust, and Jacksonville, Florida, the live-oak ; Savannah and 
Cedar Keys the yellow pine. About the middle of February the keel 
was laid. The frame is of white oak, live-oak, and locust. It is 
secured by immense iron straps, J- or | inch by 4 inches, and 18 or 20 
feet long, let in flush with the timbers, the ends butted together and 
fished with strong plates, hot riveted through and through. Her 
dimensions are as follows : Length of keel, 325 feet; length of 10-feet 
water-line, 332 feet; length over all, 344 feet; width of hull, 46 feet; 
width over guards, 83 feet; depth of hold (clear), 15 feet; diameter 
of wheels, 39 feet 4 inches; length of buckets, 12 feet; capacity (car- 
penter's measurement), 2800 tons. She is run by the engine that was 
in the old '' Rhode Island," which has been entirely overhauled and 
put in order. As in the old " Rhode Island," she has steam steering 
apparatus, and, in addition, is provided with a steam windlass. 

18S1. — The " City of Worcester," of the Norwich Line, was built 
by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Company, of Wilmington, Delaware. 
Her hull is of iron, the plating seven-sixteenths to three-quarters of an 
inch thickness, and the sheer streak IJ inches. Her principal dimen- 
sions are : Admeasurement, 2500 tons ; length on water-line, 325 feet ; 
length over all, 340 feet ; beam, moulded, 46 feet ; over all, 80 feet ; 
depth from base-line to top of beams at dead flat, 16 feet 3 inches. 
She has six water-tight bulkheads fitted .between double frames on the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 409 

side. All these bulkheads are extended to the guard-deck, being 
thoroughly braced and stayed by both vertical and diagonal angle irons. 
Should two of these bulkheads be destroyed by collision, the other four 
would float the boat. The machinery and the steam-chambers are 
inclosed in iron all the way up through the hurricane-deck, to afford 
perfect ventilation to the fire-room and give greater protection against 
fire. The two smoke-pipes are also inclosed in iron casings. Her 
machinery consists of a surface-condensing, working-beam engine, 
having a cylinder 90 inches in diameter by 12 feet stroke of piston, 
arranged with composition valves and seats and Stevens cut-off. The 
wheels are 38 feet in diameter, with buckets of about 11 feet face. The 
steamer is fitted with iron gallows frame, iron guard logs, iron king 
posts, and iron batteries and bulkheads for water-wheel houses. She 
has three main boilers, 37 feet 6 inches long by 12 feet diameter and 
13 feet face, containing about 9300 feet of fire surface and 550 feet of 
grate surface. They will sustain a working pressure of 50 pounds to 
the square inch. She also has a 40-horse-power donkey boiler, with 
steam pump, located on the guard-deck, and fitted with the necessary 
attachments and fixtures. The boat has 200 tons of boilers, and her 
main boilers are claimed to be the largest in the world. 

The hull is extra-braced forward, where she is also extra-plated as 
a guard against ice, through which she can be easily propelled with the 
full power of her engine. The hold is ventilated by a well between 
the boilers and machinery space, and also through the two hollow iron 
masts. The bottom of the boat is covered inside with the best quality 
of Portland cement. The anchors, worked from the upper deck, weigh 
4100 and 3000 pounds respectively. The chain cables are If and If 
inches in diameter, and are each 75 fathoms long. The windlass is 
worked by an independent engine. 

The " City of Worcester'^ has eight boats hung on the davits, six 
22 feet long each, and two 24 feet in length. These boats are square- 
sterned, as it was found when the steamer " City of New York" rescued 
the passengers from the wrecked " Narragansett'^ that the double-ender 
boat was next to useless for that work. In addition, the steamer has 
a small boat 16 feet long. 

The precautions against fire are : On the main-deck 9 fire-plugs, 8 
in the saloon, 4 in the hold, and 4 on the hurricane-deck. These plugs 
are supplied by 2 pumps, always in readiness for immediate action, the 
steam being supplied by the donkey boiler. 1450 feet of hose are at 
all times attached to the plugs, and used for no other purpose. 

The freight capacity of the boat will easily accommodate 90 car- 
loads. There is a separate gangway for passengers, by which they can 
enter or leave the vessel, with no bales, barrels, boxes, or baggage to 
molest them. 

The saloon on the main-deck is separated from the freight compart- 

29 



410 HISTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

ment by pilasters and elaborately orDamented ground glass. The 
joiner-work is in mahogany, bird Veye maple, French walnut and tulip 
woods, marquetry and gilt, and is tastefully relieved by the white ceil- 
ing and delicately tinted cornice. The cornice and pilasters in the 
main saloon above are a combination of hard woods and veneer-work, 
finished in the Eastlake or Queen Anne style. The forward saloon has 
an upper tier of state-rooms, with a mahogany overhanging balustrade 
all around, with mahogany stairways leading thereto. These stairways, 
and all on the boat, are covered with stamped gold-bronze brass. Each 
of the stairways has a design having an elegance distinctively its own. 

The dining-room is in the forward saloon of the upper-deck, away 
from the odors of machinery. There are 175 state-rooms in all, each 
having one of Jennings's closets, supplied from a tank amidships con- 
nected with a small engine, which keeps a continuous cleansing flow 
through them. The wash-rooms and large state-rooms are inodorous, 
the w^ater coming from another tank. For two lengths abaft and for- 
ward of the wheel the state-rooms are three rows deep ; elsewhere there 
are two rows on each side. Besides the ordinary state-rooms, having 
two berths in each, there are twelve large bedstead state-rooms, — four 
aft, two amidships, and six forward. All the rooms are ventilated by 
transoms over the doors, as well as by windows. Each room has an 
electric annunciator ; the inside furnishings are in mahogany, French 
walnut, bird's-eye maple, and other hard woods, and are fitted with the 
Peerless wire mattress. There are 150 open berths in the hold, divided 
into forward and after gentlemen's cabins, with the ladies' cabin in the 
stern. These berths are well ventilated, there being several feet of 
space between the cabin walls and the steamer's plating. 

The steamer is heated by steam ; marble-top radiators are in the 
saloons, and each state-room has its independent heating coil. The 
lighting is by Edison's incandescent electric light. There are 250 of 
these lamps, of 16-candle power each, the electricity for which is gen- 
erated by an independent 15-horse-power engine. The boat is also 
piped for gas, and chandeliers are fitted for burning mineral sperm oil. 

The doors are furnished with ^' Parliament" hinges, which allows of 
their being unshipped and used as life-preservers. The pilot-house is 
finished in hard woods, with hard wood steering-wheel, chairs, sheaves, 
and fixtures. The steering is by steam or hand, as desired. The 
kitchen has its independent steam-boiler, the ice-room is near by, and 
in the forward hold is the officers' mess-room. There is ample room 
on the promenade-deck, and the roomy guards make moving about an 
easy and agreeable possibility. 

The steamer's lines are pleasing to the eye, and her exterior orna- 
mentation is tasteful. On each paddle-box is a seal of the City of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, encircled with gilt-work, from which diverge 
the sunset-colored rays of the lattice-work, between which one gets 



HISTORY OF 8TEAM NAVIOATIOX. 4ll 

glimpses of the great red wheel inside. All modern improvements 
entering into tlie construction of a first-class steamer have been intro- 
duced into the " Citv of Worcester." She is faster than the '^ City of 
New York" of this line^ that boat, the fastest on the Sound, having 
made the distance between docks, one hundred and twenty miles, in 
six hours and five minutes, — a record that has never been beaten. 

The first impression on boarding the ^^ Worcester'"' is the substantial 
character of her appointments and her capacity. Upon entering her 
saloons one is struck with their magnificence, and by the absence of all 
gaudiness, or with so little of the throbbing so disagreeable to many 
people. Quiet as a well or dead-house. The passenger, to the fullest 
sense, whichever way he turns, finds a repetition of the idea of bounti- 
ful provision or manifestation of hospitable intention. 

The ^' City of Worcester" took her place on the Xorwich Line, and 
began her trips in connection with the Xew England Railroad from 
Boston to Xew York in September, 1881. 

1880. — The ^^Oriext." — The steamship ^' Orient," belonging to 
the Orient Steam Navigation Company, launched at Glasgow in 1880, 
was designed to sail direct for Australia. Her measurement over all 
was 460 feet; 455 feet 6 inches between perpendiculars; beam, 46.35 
feet; depth of main-deck, 27.1 feet, and to the after-deck, 35.1 feet. 
She can carry 3000 tons of coal and 3600 tons of cargo of 40 feet 
measurement, has accommodations for one hundred and twenty first- 
class, one hundred and thirty second-class, and three hundred steerage 
or third-class passengers. Her cost was about £150,000. Her dis- 
placement 9500 tons. The crank-shaft is 20 inches in diameter ; 
screw-shaft, 18J- inches in diameter. She is propelled by a four-bladed 
screw, 22 feet in diameter and having 30 feet pitch. She was expected 
to burn from 2500 to 2800 tons of coal on her voyage to Australia, 
and was steered by steam. 

1882. — A new steamship, called the ^^ Austral," has been built by 
John Elder & Co. for the Australian trade. Her length over all is 
474 feet ; her tonnage 9500 tons. She has been built throughout of 
mild steel, and has three steel decks. The lightness of the material of 
which she is constructed causes her to draw comparatively little water, 
and it may be said that it will be hardly possible to sink or burn her. 
She is divided below the inner skin and the double bottom into nine- 
teen separate water-tight compartments : and in the hull proper within 
the interior skin she is divided by thirteen water-tight bulkheads, ten of 
which run up to the level of the main-deck. If the whole of the lower 
compartments were filled with water, the efi^ect would be an additional 
draught to the extent of eighteen inches, and if by accident or design 
the sea obtained free communication with any two of the holds, the 
stability and surplus buoyancy of the vessel would prevent her from 
being endangered. 



412 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



The Castle Line. — The steamships of this line carry Her Maj- 
esty's mails between London and South Africa, sailing from London 
every alternate Tuesday, and from Dartmouth every alternate Friday, 
for Cape Town, Mossel Bay, Algoa Bay, Port Alfred, East London, 
and Natal, calling regularly at Madeira, and touching at St. Helena 
and Ascension at stated intervals. 

The fleet of this company comprise the 



Tons. 

Armadele, Castle of 4350 

Antonish Castle 4350 

Dunnotar Castle 4350 

Garth Castle 3705 

Drummond Castle 3705 

Kinfaune Castle 3507 

Grantuity Castle ........ 3489 

Conway Castle 2966 

Warwick Castle 2957 

Dunrotin Castle 2857 



Tons. 

Northan Castle 2800 

Dunbar Castle 2800 

Taymouth Castle 1827 

Duart Castle 1827 

Lapland 1269 

Dunkeld 1558 

Melrose 840 

Florence 695 

Venice 511 



1854^. — The Allan Line. — Previous to the inauguration of this 
line of steamships the trade between Great Britain and Canada had 
been carried on by a superior class of sailing-ships, many of which, 
during its early history, were commanded by their owners and their 
sons. Among these early merchant traders to Canada, Mr. Alexander 
Allan, the father of the family that gives its name to the present Allan 
Line of steamers, had a prominent place. He was a native of Salt- 
coats, North Britain, afterwards removed to Glasgow, and owned a 
numerous fleet of sailing-ships, one of which, in early life, he himself 
commanded. His eldest son, James, and his third son, Bryce Allan, 
of Liverpool, followed his example, while Hugh and Andrew estab- 
lished themselves in Montreal, and in 1851 entered into partnership 
as the successors of Edmonstone & Allan, where they managed the 
shipping business of the family, and James, when he retired from the 
sea, formed with Bryce and their youngest brother, Alexander, the 
now important branch of their business in Liverpool. When the suc- 
cess of screw steamers upon the Atlantic had been assured, the mem- 
bers of the Allan family turned their attention to the advantages to 
be derived from their employment . of such vessels, and established a 
line of them to run between Liverpool, Quebec, and Montreal during 
the period of open navigation, and between Liverpool and Portland, 
Maine, when the St. Lawrence was ice-bound. 

The first four steamers of this firm were built by William Denny, 
of Dumbarton, and the skill of this builder is evinced by the fact that 
one of these early steamers, the "Anglo-Saxon," of 1637 tons burden, 
although designed for economy of fuel and capacity for cargo and pas- 
sengers rather than for speed, made the passage from Quebec to Rock 
Light, Liverpool, in the then altogether unprecedented short time of 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 413 

nine days and five hours. Built in 1856, she was wrecked on Cape 
Race April 27, 1863, with a sacrifice of 237 lives. 

Before, however, their vessels were finished, the Canadian govern- 
ment, in June, 1852, advertised for the conveyance of the mails between 
Great Britain and Canada in summer and Portland in the winter. For 
this service a contract was concluded with Messrs. McKean, McCarty, 
and Lamout, of Liverpool, who formed a company, and opened the 
line in the spring of 1853 with a vessel of 500 tons register named the 
" Geneva." The line was continued for about eighteen months by 
means of the steamer ^' Cleopatra," of 1467 tons, two smaller vessels, 
the "Ottawa" and the "Charity," and the "Canadian," built in 1854, 
of 1764 tons, the first steamer built for the Messrs. Allan, who had 
chartered her to the company. 

But the service, which was conducted with varying regularity, 
proving unprofitable, was transferred to the Allans, who undertook, 
with the fleet they were building specially for this trade, to carry on a 
fortnightly service to Quebec in summer and a monthly voyage to 
Portland, Maine, in winter, for the annual subsidy of £24,000. The 
Crimean War, however, occurring in 1854, offered more remunerative 
employment to the steamers of the fleet of both contractors, and con- 
sequently the regular mail service by the Allan Line, which at first was 
designated as the " Montreal Ocean Steamship Company," was not com- 
menced until April, 1856. Since then it has been maintained with 
unbroken regularity, with the exception of various serious losses, which 
might almost have been anticipated in the early history of the service, 
considering the dangerous character of the navigation.^ From a fort- 
nightly line in summer and a monthly line in winter the operations of 
the company have expanded into a regular^ weekly service, supple- 
mented by an additional fortnightly mail service between Liverpool 
and Halifax, extending during the summer to St. Johns, Newfound- 
land, and continued monthly during the winter, by means of an ice- 
boat, between Halifax and St. Johns, when the latter port cannot be 
approached by ocean steamships. Steamers of the Allan fleet also 
trade between Liverpool and Baltimore, and a weekly line is maintained 
between Glasgow and Canada in the summer. There is also a line con- 
sisting of ten steamships, of between 3300 and 2500 tons each, and an 
aggregate tonnage of 30,100 tons, engaged in what is called the Cal- 
cutta or Indian service, and a fleet of twelve iron clipper sailing-ships, 
with an aggregate tonnage of 16,857 tons, also in the service of the cora- 

1 The " Indian," built in 1855, 1764 tons, was lost February 19, 1860, on Cape 
Sable, with a sacrifice of 205 lives ; the " Canadian," built in 1854, 1764 tons, lost 
June 1, 1857, near Quebec, all saved ; " Canadian No. 2," sunk by ice in the Straits 
of Belle Isle, June 4, 1861, 30 lives lost; " Anglo-Saxon," 1673 tons, wrecked on 
Cape Race, April 27, 1863, 237 lives lost; "Norwegian," wrecked on St. Paul's 
Island, Cape Breton, June 14, 1863, all saved; "Bohemian," wrecked on Alden's 
Ro?k, ofi" the entrance to Portland Harbor, February 22, 1864, 20 lives lost. 

29* 



4l4 mSTORY OF STEA3I NAVIGATION. 

pany, trading to all parts of the world, but chiefly to the East Indies. 
The Messrs. Allan do not insure their vessels, a circumstance which 
of itself is the very best guarantee that great care will be exercised in 
the management and navigation of the ships. A rule of this company, 
carefully observed by the captains, requires that in case of fog the speed 
must be reduced to dead slow, safety being the chief consideration. 

Their steamer, the "Hibernian," built in 1861, was the first in the 
Atlantic trade where deck-houses were covered in by a promenade- 
deck, stretching from stem to stern, which prevents a sea, when it 
breaks on board, from filling the passages between the deck-houses and 
bulwarks. So highly was the plan approved by the British govern- 
ment that the unproductive spaces under this deck were made, by order 
of the Board of Trade, the subject of a special exemption from ton- 
nage measure by the deck-shelter clause of the Merchant Shipping Act 
of 1854. Other Atlantic lines adopting this protection obtained like 
privileges, but difficulties arising in connection with ships of somewhat 
different construction, which, however, claimed the same exemption, 
this immunity was abolished. 

Some of the vessels of this line are remarkable for their speed. 
For instance, in October, 1872, the " Polynesian," on her first voyage, 
made the passage between Quebec and Londonderry in seven days, 
eighteen hours, and fifty-five minutes ; while her sister ship, the " Sar- 
matian," was engaged by the government to convey the Forty-second 
Highlanders to the Gold Coast in the Ashantee war. The " Sarmatian" 
is, by the way, the favorite ship of the Princess Louise, Marchioness of 
Lome, and in her she has made all her passages between England and 
Canada. 

The " Hungarian," one of the earliest of these steamers, made the 
passage from Quebec to Rock Light in nine days, six hours, and thirty- 
five minutes, or from land to land in six days. Another, the ^' Peru- 
vian," completed one of the fastest round voyages on record on any 
Atlantic line. On the 16th of December, 1864, she left Moville, the 
port of call, near Londonderry, at 6.24 p.m., discharged her cargo at 
Portland, took in her homeward cargo, and sailing, arrived back at 
Moville on the 10th of January, 1865, at 9.15 a.m., thus making the 
passage out and home, including detentions at Portland while dis- 
charging and loading her cargoes, in twenty-four days, fifteen hours. 

As a representative ship of the Allan Line we will take the " Sar- 
dinian," which was built and had her engines constructed by Messrs. 
Robert Steele & Co., of Greenock. She measures 400 feet in length 
between perpendiculars, is 42 feet 3 inches in width of beam, and is 35 
feet 8 inches in moulded depth. Her register is 2577 tons measure- 
ment, with a gross tonnage of 4376 tons. She is impelled by a pair 
of inverted, direct-acting, compound high- and low-pressure engines. 
These engines are supplied with all the most recent improvements for 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 415 

combiniDg power with economy of fuel, and securing smooth and 
equable working. They are furnished with superheating and surface- 
condensing apparatus of the most improved construction ; and every- 
thing which experience could dictate or science suggest to insure 
efficiency of working has been sedulously applied without stint or re- 
gard to first cost. Her high-pressure cylinder measures 60 inches, 
and her low-pressure cylinder 104 inches in diameter, and the pistons 
have 4 feet 6 inches of a stroke. The steam for working these power- 
ful engines is generated in ten oblong boilers, which are heated by 
twenty furnaces, fired athwartship. When working at about full speed 
the engines make about sixty revolutions, and at that number of revo- 
lutions the ship has a regulated and sustained speed of 14 knots per 
hour, the indicated horse-power being calculated at 2800. 

The " Sardinian'^ was built under special survey to take the highest 
classification for iron steamships. She is divided into seven water-tight 
compartments by six water-tight iron bulkheads. Her awning and 
spar-decks are both iron from stem to stern and from side to side of 
the ship, and firmly riveted to every deck-beam ; her main-deck, also, 
is of iron from the after hold to the main hold, and from side to 
side of the ship, except that portion which is occupied by the engine 
space. In addition to these precautions for insuring extra strength 
to the hull of the ship, heavy iron stanchions have been introduced on 
every deck, and at every beam where they could be introduced with 
advantage. 

While thus carefully and thoughtfully providing for the general 
strength of the structure, and the proportionately important power by 
which the stately ship is to be impelled on her ocean path, other than 
subsidiary, although in the aggregate scarcely less important, means 
for guiding, regulating, and assisting her in the management of her 
voyaging, in aiding her into and out of dock, and in the no less im- 
portant operations of loading and stowing and unloading of cargo, to- 
gether with those numerous appliances for securing comfort to all on 
board, which are indispensable in some degree, are provided for on 
the most liberal scale. 

The " Sardinian" carries ten large boats, all of which are of the 
best life-boat construction, and as regards her passenger accomnioda- 
tion she necessarily stands very high, having provision for one hundred 
and eighty saloon, sixty intermediate, and one thousand steerage. The 
cabin passengers of the " Sardinian" are carried in the saloon and the 
state-rooms immediately connected with it. The saloon is 80 feet in 
length by 41 feet in breadth, and is lofty in the ceiling. It is situ- 
ated on the awning-deck, and is lighted by a lantern cupola in the 
centre of the ceiling, augmented by an abundance of side lights, the 
combination producing an effulgence which, united to the gorgeous 
furnishings, produces an effect at once gratifying and dazzling. The 



416 HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 

ceiling is delicately paneled in French white, enriched with gold mold- 
ings. The wainscoting of the saloon is richly paneled in highly-polished 
walnut wood, relieved by a delicate stringing of bright rosewood, the 
panel-framing, rails, and mounters being of polished teak wood. This 
is surrounded by a rich gold carved cornice, the interspace between 
the panels being filled by handsome fluted columns of ebony, with 
rich gold capitals. The settees are upholstered in crimson velvet. 
As in the other steamers belonging to this line, the " Sardinian" is 
furnished with a hot-plate table, from which the passengers are sup- 
plied with viands served cl la Russe as per carte menu. The saloon is 
furnished with a piano-forte and a well-selected library of books for 
the use of the passengers. In short, everything which can conduce to 
comfort has been abundantly provided, and, as a whole, the saloon, 
with its rich furniture and graceful surroundings, presents a coup deceit 
of rare beauty and magnificence. In connection with the saloon, in 
two houses on deck are situated additional accommodations for the 
saloon passengers. Those consist of a ladies' sitting-room or boudoir, 
which is furnished in a style of quiet yet luxurious beauty, and a 
charming snuggery fitted up as a smoke-room. The dormitories or 
state-rooms for the saloon passengers are on the main and upper pas- 
senger-decks. They are roomy, capacious, and well-lighted, as well as 
fully supplied with regulated ventilation. They are elegantly fur- 
nished with bed and toilette appliances, and every means has been 
adopted to secure comfort and safety to all the inmates. This vessel, 
like others of the fleet, is supplied with electric bells in the cabin de- 
partment of the ship. 

The intermediate passenger berths are placed on the upper passen- 
ger-deck, the steerage passengers being located on the upper and sec- 
ond passenger-decks. Both these classes of passengers last referred to 
are supplied with cooked victuals of the best quality by the ship's 
stewards in unlimited quantity. The sanitary arrangements through- 
out the ship are of the most perfect kind. A peculiarity as to carrying 
steerage passengers by the ships of this line is that the company sup- 
plies passengers with the use of a suitable and ample outfit for the 
voyage, whereby passengers are saved the trouble, inconvenience, and 
loss consequent on having to supply their own outfit previous to em- 
barking. The outfit consists of patent life-preserving pillows, mattress, 
pannikin to hold a pint and a half, plate, knife, nickel-plated fork, 
and nickel-plated spoon. The charge for the use of these articles for 
the voyage is only a very few shillings. Each berth in the cabin is 
fitted with a pair of life-saving pillows, specially adapted for fastening 
to the person in case of emergency. 

In 1874 the head of the firm, Hugh Allan, was knighted by the 
Queen in London for his efforts in establishing steam communication 
between Canada and the mother country. During the visits of the 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. 417 

Prince of Wales, Prince Arthur, and other members of the royal fam- 
ily to Canada, he entertained them in princely fashion. He had the finest 
residence in the city of Montreal, and his hospitality was unbounded. 

The Allan Line is still under contract with the governments of 
Canada and Newfoundland for the conveyance of the mails. Steam- 
ships of this line now leave for Portland and Liverpool, via Queens- 
town, every alternate Saturday, and for Boston and Liverpool, via 
Halifax, calling at Londonderry, every alternate Thursday, and Balti- 
more and Liverpool, via Halifax, every alternate Monday, and from 
Halifax for Liverpool every Saturday. 

Sir Hugh Allan, the founder of this great line, died at Edinburgh, 
suddenly, of heart-disease, December 9, 1882. His decease caused a 
profound shock and the deepest regret throughout the whole city of 
Montreal, with which he had been connected for nearly sixty years. 

Besides founding and attending to his shipping interests, he was at 
the head of all great enterprises for building up the city and the 
country as well, and when he died was president of one of the largest 
Canadian banks, which he founded, and of twenty- two other public 
companies, including railways, coal-mining, cotton, woolen, sewing-ma- 
chine, telegraph, elevators, insurance, rubber, colonization, etc. In all 
these he had a large amount of capital invested. 

His surviving brother, Andrew Allan, who resides now in Montreal, 
is the present head of the firm. An elder brother died a short time ago 
in Glasgow, and there are still two surviving in that city. They have 
limited interests in the firm, but the deceased and Andrew were the 
principal owners.^ 

^ Sir Hugh Allan was born at Saltcoats, in the County of Ayr, Scotland, on the 
29th of September, 1810. In the year 1824 his father removed bis residence to 
Greenock, and in the following spring (1825), Hugh, being then fourteen years of 
age, was entered as a clerk in the firm of Allan, Kerr & Co. After he had been 
there about a year his father proposed that he should go out to Canada. He sailed 
from Greenock for Montreal on the 12th of April, 1826, in the brig "Favorite," 
and landed at Montreal for the first time on Sunday morning, the 21st of May, 1826. 
At that time there was only one steam-tug on the St. Lawrence, and no wharves ; 
the city was then in its infancy, with little trade or foreign commerce. He obtained 
a situation as clerk with the firm of William Kerr & Co., then engaged in the dry- 
goods trade in St. Paul Street. He visited his horiie in Scotland in 1830, returning 
to Canada the following year. Soon afterwards he obtained a situation in the house 
of James Millar & Co., then engaged in building and sailing ships, and as commis- 
sion merchants. He remained a clerk to the end of the year 1835, when, some 
changes taking place in the establishment, he was admitted a partner with Mr. 
Millar and Mr. Edmonstone, who bad been long connected with the house. About 
the year 1851 the successful establishment of screw steamers on the Atlantic elicited 
proposals for a line to the river St. Lawrence. Mr. Allan was awarded a contract 
in 1853. At first the service was fortnightly, but on May 1, 1859, the weekly service 
was commenced, and has ever since been continued. Sir Hugh Allan was identified 
with a larger number of commercial and financial corporations than any other gen- 
tleman in the Dominion. 

He married, September 13, 1844, Matilda, daughter of John Smith, a prominent 



418 



HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION, 



The company's transatlantic line is now composed of the following 
double-engined Clyde-built iron steamships. They are built in water- 
tight compartments, are unsurpassed for strength, speed, and comfort, 
are fitted up with all the modern improvements that practical experience 
can suggest, and have made the fastest time on record. 



Gross Tons. 

Numidian* 6100 

Parisian 5400 

Sardinian ........... 4650 

Polynesian 4100 

Sarmatian 3600 

Circassian 4000 

Moravian 3650 

Peruvian 8400 

Nova Scotian 3300 

Hibernian 3440 

Caspian 3200 

Austrian 2700 

Nestorian 2700 

Prussian 3000 



Gross Tons. 

Scandinavian 3000 

Hanoverian 4000 

Buenos Ayrean 3800 

Corean 4000 

Grecian , 3600 

Manitoban 3150 

Canadian 3d 2600 

Phoenician 2800 

Waldensian 2600 

Lucerne 2200 

Newfoundland 1500 

Acadian 1350 

Mersev tender ......... 500 



* Building. 

The East India Line is composed of the following steamers : 



Tons. 



City of Manchester 3300 

City of Edinburgh 3500 

City of Canterbury 3500 

City of Cambridge ....... 2500 

City of Carthage 2800 

The clipper sailing-ships of the Allan Company are as follows : 



Tons. 



City of London 3500 

City of Oxford 2500 

City of Venice 3500 

City of Mecca 2500 

City of Poonah ........ 2500 



Tons. 

Glendaruel 1761 

Glenmorag 1576 

Glenfinert 1530 

Glenbervie 800 

Gleniffer 800 

Abeona 979 

St. Patrick 992 



Tons. 

Strathearn • • • 1705 

Strathblane 1364 

Kavenscrag 1263 

Pomona 1200 

Chippewa 1072 

Medora 746 

City of Montreal 1062 



Total Tonnage. 

Atlantic service 59,916 

India service 30,100 

Sailing-ships • • • 16^857 

Grand total 106,873 

Sir Hugh Allan left a fortune estimated at $15,000,000. 

dry-goods merchant of Montreal. By this marriage he had thirteen children, twelve 
of whom survive, — eight daughters and four sons. Four of the former are married 
to British army officers, and live in England. Lady Allan died over a year ago. 
He was a life-long member of St. Andrew's Church, and one of the foremost men 
of the Church of Scotland in Canada. He was knighted by her Majesty in 1871. 
The cable announcement of his death in Edinburgh created a most profound sensa- 
tion and called out universal expressions of sincerest regret throughout the Do- 
minion of Canada. — N. Y. Graphic. 



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